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THE 



GOSPEL OF NATURE 



BY 



M. L. SHEKMAN and WM. F. LYO^, 



AUTHORS OF THE 



HOLLOW GLOBE.' 




T* 



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CHICAGO: 
HAZLITT & REED, 172 and 174 CLARK STREET. 

1877. 



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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1877, by- 

M. L. SHERMAN and WM. P. LYON, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 



PREFACE 



These chapters were written in the city of Chicago during the 
summer of 1871. The ideas were given in a series of lectures 
through the organism of M. L. Sherman, and written in the same 
manner as the Hollow Globe, which has been before the public 
since that time, and of which this work is a sort of sequel. 

It is not pretended that this volume will solve the great problem 
of living conscious existence; but the authors indulge a hope 
that a perusal of these pages may reflect a flood of light upon 
very numerous vexed questions concerning man's earlier history, 
and his relationship not only to the planet which gave him birth, 
but to the boundless universe. 

It may properly be considered a search after foundations — a 
sort of delving down to the substratum of existing things — an 
inquiry after the secret springs, or the very fountain head of 
evolutionary forces — an investigation of the hidden wheel works 
of nature's wondrous machinery; thus clearing the way to a 
better understanding of the divine records found everywhere in 
the economy of the universe. 

The bungling record which forms a part of the theology of 
the present period presents the inquiring mind a very lame and 
unsatisfactory solution of such a mighty problem as the genesis 
of conscious existence; and as yet the theory of evolution, as 
presented by the materialist, is in an exceedingly crude and 
undigested condition. 

(3) 



4: PREFACE. 

Mr. Darwin is compelled to suppose there was some sort of 
an animal organization existing as a starter, or basis, upon 
which might be built his wonderful system of natural selection 
and variation. 

Mr. Huxley finds his protoplasm, or basis of life, a regular 
organized being, possessing certain powers and performing 
various functions incident to living existences; and as micro- 
scopic discoveries do not at present extend much further into 
the realms of the infinitesimal, he leaves the whole subject 
shrouded in the darkness of those forbidden fields termed the 
unknowable. 

Mr. Tynclall, after all his extended researches, has simply 
arrived at the conclusion that the "promise and potency of 
every form and quality of life exists in matter." Thus far he 
goes, and no further. As regards the working processes in the 
great laboratory of nature by which these innumerable forms 
are differentiated, or eliminated from the universal matrix 
where all substance or matter must at some time have resided, 
he maintains a profound silence. 

The great mass of people, including the devout believer in 
the divinity of book revelation, scarce give these difficult sub- 
jects a thought. 

The paramount question for consideration just at the present 
period would seem to be — did some supreme intelligent Being 
produce by his own power this mighty universe? or did the 
universe itself exist from all past eternities, and unfold by 
virtue of its own inherent powers every grade of intelligent 
beings it contains? 

Biological science has repudiated the long-cherished doctrine 
of spontaneous generation, and emphatically declares that the 
minutest individual form of living existence must have had its 
progenitor equally with the greatest. 

A very eminent modern lecturer, who has had every oppor- 



PREFACE. 5 

tunity, and is abundantly capable of investigating this matter 
from a material standpoint, so far indorses the doctrine of 
evolution as to say that he believes we came up from the 
lower animals, but is not quite sure. However, upon this 
subject he says "he stands about eight to seven." 

It is at just this period of the earth's history, and in this 
condition of human development, that we send our book into 
the world, hoping it may fill to a certain extent a vacuum, 
and partially supply the present needs of humanity in this 
respect. We cherish a hope that these pages, over which we 
have labored so assiduously, may serve to illuminate, and per- 
haps enlarge, the intellects of many persons who are famishing 
for the want of knowledge of this character. 

We are aware that the ideas presented, or at least a large 
portion of them, are radical almost to the last extreme; still 
we think there are many minds prepared for their reception 
even now, and we modestly predict that another, and perhaps 
still other, generations will very largely increase the numbers 
who will appreciate these thoughts, which have come to us 
from the spirit abodes. 

We are fully aware that somewhere in the amplitude of 
nature's mighty volume is inscribed the whole history of the 
advent of our earth and all its appertainings, together with 
their unfoldment up to the present status ; and if, in the event, 
it shall prove that we have succeeded in reading some of these 
divine pages correctly, and in transcribing their contents truth- 
fully into this our book, we shall be amply compensated for 
all our labor and anxiety. 

The indulgent reader will doubtless leniently pass over any- 
seeming repetitions either in language or ideas which may 
occur, as our whole repertory of words have been many times 
insuflicient to express the idea we wished to convey; and per- 
haps in some instances we have made a second or even more 



6 PREFACE. 

attempts. It is not that this work possesses superior literary 
merits that we give it publication, but that it explores many 
new fields of thought, and reflects, as we think, many illumi- 
nating rays upon numerous unsolved problems which are of 
such vital importance to the modern thinker. 



THE GOSPEL OF NATUEE. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE SOUL OF THINGS. 

There are evidently substratum principles underlying 
the mighty fabric of nature, which when properly 
understood will guide the student in his researches, 
and prevent him from straying far into the regions of 
doubt and obscurity. 

At the beginning of this work we present a few 
condensed fundamental ideas, which we think almost 
all independent thinkers will be compelled, to adopt as 
a basis upon which they may safely build superstruc- 
tures of thought. 

It is unwise to extend our researches after truth 
beyond, the limits of the universe; first, because there 
is ample scope inside its realms for the exercise of the 
loftiest intellect during endless eternities; and, second, 
because universal nature is boundless, containing every- 
thing of which the human intellect can entertain any 
conception, whether of a spiritual or material nature. 

There can be nothing above, beyond, outside, or in 
any manner independent of nature; hence the idea of 
a supernatural realm is mythical, and a vain delusion. 

(7) 



8 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

All nature must be perfectly natural and sufficiently 
extensive to afford ample scope for every possible con- 
dition of existence, from the lowest or crudest material 
to the most refined and progressed spiritual. 

Laws which are self-existing — eternally immutable 
— pervade every department of universal nature, so 
there can be no condition of existence independent of 
corresponding natural law which renders such exist- 
ence possible. 

The human mind cannot conceive that something 
can be produced from nothing, or that something which 
actually exists can be changed into nothing, because it 
can entertain no conception of a law in nature pro- 
ductive of such results. 

All existing, objective things, whether worlds or 
atoms, Gods or infinitesimal animalculse, together with 
laws and forces by which all activities are produced, 
are simply a part and parcel of nature's mighty uni- 
verse; each one links in the chain of being, none can 
be dispensed with — the absence of one link would 
destroy the harmony and completeness of the great 
machine. 

All intellectual personal beings, high or low, are the 
result of organic evolution, and are possessed of cer- 
tain powers and faculties of mind consonant with their 
condition of development. 

No intellectual personality could have been unfolded 
independent of the forces and laws which render such 
a process possible; hence the most exalted personal 
being cannot by any possibility abrogate, change, or 
in any manner interfere with the operation of forces 
or natural laws in consonance with which they exist. 



THE SOUL OF THINGS. 9 

Natural forces or laws cannot be self-existing or 
immutable if there is any personal being who" is able 
to exercise a power which will either produce, destroy 
or modify their status in any manner whatsoever. 
Hence a God of infinite power cannot be in the same 
universe with dominating forces and unchangeable 
laws, because one of these powers must annihilate the 
other. 

No accidents or mishaps can occur in the machinery 
of the universe; for, if so, all would some time termi- 
nate in utter confusion and destruction. 

Absolute truth, if such is found, must be equally 
true everywhere as far as the universe extends. 

There could have been no beginning to the natural 
universe, for then its duration would be a fragment of 
a more lengthy period of time; and, if it had a begin- 
ning, it certainly must have a termination. That 
which has one end must have another. 

There could have been no first cause; for effects or 
the facts which are a product are of eternal duration, 
and the human mind cannot entertain a conception of 
a date prior to eternity. 

We are persuaded that the above formulas approxi- 
mate so nearly to self-evident truths, that we propose 
to write the following chapters in harmony with their 
teachings, and hence we say: There can be nothing 
newly created or produced; all things which exist to- 
day have been from the infinite past, and will be again 
and again during the infinite future. Yet nature 
never repeats herself — she never produces two things 
alike. Still, all forms, whether expressed by spiritual 
or more materialized particles, which are appreciable 



10 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

to human vision or not, are of infinite or unlimited 
existence — such ever have been, they will be ever; 
yet change, continuous change, seems to be, by some 
omnipotent force, indelibly impressed upon all things^ 7 
visible and invisible in the natural realms. 

Material forms seem to pass through changes by 
aggregation and disintegration of atoms, while spirit- 
ualized forms, being more plastic, may change by com- 
pression or expansion, thus accommodating themselves 
to the various material organizations they are destined 
to inhabit. 

It has been said that not a sparrow falls to the 
ground without notice, and the very hairs of our heads 
are numbered; if so, it may be quite possible that 
every living entity, nay, every infinitesimal particle, 
embracing those which enter into the composition of 
the most spiritualized beings, may also be enumerated. 

There seems to be an open question among the 
savans of the present day concerning the sublimation 
or divisibility of material substance," as to whether 
such divisibility is infinite or limited. However this 
may be, we are quite sure the ultimate atom, if such 
a thing can exist, must be almost infinitely beyond 
human conception in point of sublimation. 

"What is not substantially something must be void 
of any existence — we express the idea as nearly as 
possible by the term nothing. There would seem to 
be a sort of imaginary boundary between something 
and nothing — a supposed line of distinction, if we 
are permitted to use this figure — that would divide 
the condition of real existence, of atoms or particled 
substance, from that which is entirely negative, blank 
or void. 



THE SOUL OF THINGS. 11 

We are evidently more interested in the something 
condition, where objective realities may be found, than 
in any other; and in the consideration of this and all 
other subjects we must confine ourselves to the realm 
where entities have an existence. However, it might 
seem possible for the human mind to conceive that in 
the realm of objective substance or particled matter 
there might be found atoms so superlatively sublimated 
as to arrive at the limit of divisibility, because there 
may not be forces brought into activity which are 
capable of producing any further sublimation. Yet 
to all human perceptions the divisibility of matter 
must be infinite, because we are entirely unable to 
perceive how far this divisibility may extend, or to 
take cognizance of a particle of substance so infini- 
tesimal as not to be composed of others almost infi- 
nitely finer. All this may possibly arise from our 
limited perceptions or imperfectly developed mental 
powers; and for aught we can know at present there 
may be intelligent beings who are unfolded to a state 
in which they may clearly perceive the ultimate atom 
or the most interior soul essence of the most ethereal 
substance. If the divisibility of matter is infinite to 
our perceptions, the progressive development of intel- 
lectual powers is equally so; the one must be commen- 
surate with the other. If we may venture the conclu- 
sion that intelligent beings have an existence in the 
universe who are now possessed of such exalted endow- 
ments as to be capable of penetrating into the very 
quintessence of the most refined material things, and 
thus take a comprehensive view of knowledge which 
seems infinite to us, then we may surely follow in 



12 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

their footsteps; for the royal road that leads to this 
exaltation and glory must be as open to us as it was 
to them. , 

We cannot conceive of material substance of any 
description which is not composed of atomic particles ; 
hence we are compelled to admit that where there is 
no atom which may enter into the composition of sub- 
stance or matter there is nothing. The human intel- 
lect may perhaps take cognizance of the real existence 
of the most attenuated or spiritualized substance, 
although it is entirely incapable of comprehending 
how etherealized or sublimated such may become. 
Yet, if it is conceded that all of substance must be 
par tided, and no such thing as unparticled matter can 
exist, then it inevitably follows that however attenuated 
these may be, they must have/brm and relative size. 
Form and relative size because no objective things can 
exist destitute of these two qualities. That which has 
neither size or form would be nothing. 

It may be possible that right upon the very verge 
or margin of objective existence, where things or real- 
ities cease to be, because no law has been found which 
can produce anything finer or more spiritualized, there 
may be found the ultimate atom — the very soul 
essence which may permeate and infill all other things 
of a less sublimated character. It will be found, also, 
that these ultimate particles are, as regards form and 
size, entirely unchangeable, for they cannot be subdi- 
vided; and if you add to them, they only enter into 
copartnership with other atoms, preserving intact 
their own particular unitary status of form and size. 

It will be perceived also that each one of these 



THE SOUL OF THINGS. 13 

unitary particles must differ from every other in form, 
for nature has not produced two individual things 
alike. "When nature is compelled to repeat itself in 
any particular, its resources will be exhausted, and its 
labors will begin to terminate. If the atoms or any 
considerable portion of them were of one form, then 
aggregations of them might be of one form also, which 
fact has never occurred. 

The infinitesimal or most sublimated soul essence 
of all things is so far removed from our gross material 
visions, or any perceptions with which we are endowed, 
that our researches into its true nature may be quite 
obscure; yet some of the qualities or characteristics 
attached to this ultimatum of all existence seem to be 
self-evident. Although it may be unchangeable in 
point of form or size, yet this entity must necessarily 
change its status in other respects by change of condi- 
tion, that is, by different associations, or by entering 
into and dwelling within various organizations or 
aggregations of particled substance. 

We may plainly discover the great fact that inside 
the natural universe there exists nothing but infini- 
tesimal molecules, modified into all the different forms 
and various conditions which can come within the 
reach of human vision, or of which the most highly 
endowed intellect can entertain the least conception. 

There is evidently a large number of very intelligent 
persons who claim to know much concerning a so-called 
infinitely complex personal being, said to be the origi- 
nal cause of all causes, and who existed before there 
was a beginning; while they know nothing of the 
ethereal atom which enters into the composition of all 



14 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

things they ever beheld. They have been looking 
upward to this imaginary infinite personality for the 
solution of the mighty problem of human existence; 
whereas the human has evidently come upward — 
exactly from the other direction; and it becomes 
apparent that their researches would have been more 
successful if they had inquired of that which has 
entered into man's organism, and of which he is 
wholly composed. 

If it is conceded that all real objective things or 
organized personal beings within the limits of the 
universe are composed of real particles, and there is a 
divine or supreme Personality who superintends all 
within those limits, then he must have been produced 
from such also, else he could have no existence. All 
beings must be produced from atoms, for outside of 
them there is nothing; and a being produced from 
nothing would be nothing when completed which 
could be recognized by the human or any other intel- 
lect. 

If man has a spiritual individuality within the 
material form which may and will live when the mate- 
rial decays, the spiritual form or individuality must be 
composed of particles also, else it would be nothing, 
and there could be no such objective existence. The 
one, to be a living, conscious being, capable of per- 
forming its proper functions, must be as real and 
tangible to itself as the other; only in order to per- 
meate and live within a materialized form it must be 
composed of elements very much more etherealized. 

There are animalcule so minute that an aggregation 
of thousands, or perhaps a million, would hardly be 



THE SOUL OF THIXGS. 15 

discernable by human eyes; how inconceivably far 
beneath our vision, then, would be the molecules of 
which the various organs of these infinitesimal crea- 
tures are composed? What must be the fineness of 
the substance which is required to produce an eye for 
the minutest living being which has come within the 
reach of microscopic observation? and yet former 
experience with microscopic lenses leads us to believe 
that we are only approximating the utmost limit of 
living organisms, for when we increase the power of 
the lenses we only increase our power of beholding 
newer, more minute forms of organic life. 

We must evidently extend our researches very far 
into the invisible and ethereal realms in pursuit of the 
least or indivisible atomic particle; and unless we 
approximate such etherealization we surely cannot 
expect to find the spiritual essence cr the soul of 
things, for such essence it is that exists within or per- 
meates the grosser forms which come within the reach 
of our physical vision. Yet this essence must be sub- 
stantially something, or it would be nothing. The 
soul of all visible objects is simply composed of more 
sublimated particles capable of permeating those 
objective forms, and which may be eliminated entire 
when a dissolution of the gross material of such form 
takes place. 

All materialized forms must of course be an aggre- 
gation of such substances as are a part of universal 
nature, having existed in some condition coeval with 
nature itself. A dissolution of such forms is by no 
means destructive of any constituent element which 
entered into their composition; it simply destroys the 



16 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

copartnership, and reduces the mass to separate parti- 
cles once more — not however without results, for 
every atom has been somewhat improved or evolved 
by its residence in such materialized form. The house 
or tree may be dissolved by that destructive element, 
fire, and their distinctive forms rendered entirely 
invisible. Yet not a single particle of the house or 
tree has been destroyed or put out of existence; very 
far from it. We have only in this instance produced 
a dissolution of the relation heretofore entered into 
and existing between the several molecules composing 
such materialized forms; and of course they have 
passed beyond the reach of our vision. However, 
none could have been destroyed; the same number 
still survives, and will, though subjected to the influ- 
ences of a thousand fires. Fire may change visible 
forms, but it cannot destroy the elements which com- 
pose them. 

Particled substance may be found existing in two 
widely different states, the one quite in opposition to 
the other; the one positive, or active; the other nega- 
tive, or inactive. In one condition the atoms seem to 
possess life and motion, while in the other they seem 
to exhibit little but death and inertia, or quiescence. 
Yet one in a state of apparent death or inertia must 
be quite as good and valuable in the universe as one 
in a state of life or activity. One condition seems to 
be just as necessary as the other; for " all are but 
parts of one stupendous whole.". The infinitesimal 
atom or living entity which is bound in chains of 
everlasting darkness, and enjoying its repose appar- 
ently in the embrace of eternal death in the midst of 



THE SOUL OF THINGS. 17 

the indurate granite, is quite as important and valuable 
as the one now pursuing its merry dance in the undu- 
lations of the atmosphere, kissing the blushing cheek 
of the rose or the fair maiden, or the one who sits as 
the ruling 'monarch in the intellect of the imperial 
sovereign who sways the destiny of nations. Each 
one of all these is an absolute entity, existing under 
different conditions, each, high and low, a part and 
parcel of the mighty universe; and as they are in 
point of etherealization somewhat beyond the reach of 
our conceptions, they must be spirit entities. 

It cannot require any given number of indivisible 
particles to constitute the individual spirit entity, for 
if so, we might very properly inquire what number? 
two, ten, ten thousand, or millions? There must be 
untold billions of such entities in the material and 
spiritual structure of an ordinary human being, and 
we call him an individual or a structural unit; but as 
such he is simply a vast multiple of all the units 
which have entered into and make up his entire organ- 
ism. 

We think we shall be driven to the conclusion that 
it requires a single entity to express unity in the 
strongest sense of that term — not a plurality or any 
numerical accumulation of things — the entity of 
course being entirely indivisible. Then the real entity 
is unity in the strictest sense of the term, because it is 
the most sublimated of all material substance — the 
finest point — indivisible, unchangeable in form or 
size, eternally the same. It is the soul essence, because 
it can permeate and dwell in all things of a grosser 
character. In this we shall find an epitome or micro- 
2 



18 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

cosm of all there is in the broad universe, because the 
entire universe is composed of such indivisible living 
entities. 

Aggregations of material substance composed of 
innumerable particles must be continually* subject to 
mutations, because the atoms may separate, and thus 
forms are changed. This wonderful process in nature, 
unceasing in its activities, is ever producing that pleas- 
ing variety of materialized forms so agreeable to our 
senses. Were it not so all would be one dull, satiating 
monotony. Although this entit} 7 may exist tempora- 
rily, in unison with others, yet as such it can never 
lose its individuality; it had no beginning, it can have 
no end — it is part and parcel of the infinite universe, 
uncreated, indestructible. 

If there has been a creative power or energy at any 
time, that power, whatever its characteristics may have 
been, was something, and that something, to be such, 
must have been substance, which is necessarily parti- 
cled, if not it would have been nothing; hence no 
creative energy, whether personal or general, could 
have existed previous to the atoms, as no such energy 
could exist independent of them, for without or out- 
side of these particles there is nothing. 

We may conceive of at least two modes by which 
the subdivision of material substance may be obtained 
— one by an ordinary dividing of the mass into sepa- 
rate parts; another by chemical processes — by subli- 
mation or distillation. The former is very simple; we 
may divide and subdivide any given amount of 
material substance until we bring the mass to an 
impalpable powder, so that human vision fails to 



THE SOUL OF THINGS. 19 

detect a single one of the parts, and we maj think our 
task finished. But not so; for if we bring to bear a 
very powerful microscopic lens, we may increase the 
magnitude of these separate atoms perhaps some 
millions of times, then we may go on again with our 
subdivisions. How long this process may be continued 
by bringing to bear more and still more powerful 
lenses, is quite beyond our comprehension. However, 
it is quite evident there must be somewhere in the 
universal realms a possibility of producing lenses 
through which the indivisible point of substance may 
be discerned. Those intelligent beings, then, who are 
capable of producing and applying to their own prac- 
tical use lenses of such an exalted character, must 
become familiarized with the very soul essence of all 
things in the universe of nature. 

The soul essence must be the most spiritualized 
element, and that which would require the most 
powerful lenses or vision for its discernment; it would 
not only be invisible to us, but at the furthest possible 
extent beyond the reach of our vision. Yet the soul 
essence of all things must have a real, substantial 
existence, as much as the materialized particles which 
we behold, and quite as tangible to those spiritualized 
beings who may be in the possession of a suitable 
vision as the grosser matter is to ours. 

Another method of obtaining a subdivision of solids 
is by sublimation or distillation, and may be accom- 
plished by the use of solvents, thus producing a disso- 
lution of particles. Fire seems to be a very powerful 
solvent, especially for all matter that is of a combusti- 
ble nature. We say it burns or destroys it; but 



20 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

doubtless the better term would be, it dissolves the 
intimate relationship existing between the particles 
composing such substance, and they become invisible 
to us. JSTot a single atom has been destroyed by any 
conflagration; nature contains no less than it did 
before the fire; there is no power which can exclude a 
single one from nature's realms. Yet there are many 
forces which can disintegrate or dissolve their accumu- 
lation, not only rendering them invisible, but permit- 
ting the escape of still more etherealized elements, 
which always exist in all grosser substances. 

Nature seems to produce that which may be very 
properly termed spiritual as well as material. Yet 
they are so intimately connected — so nearly allied — 
that it is extremely difficult for us to determine if a 
boundary line exists between the two. In fact, they 
seem to glide into each other so imperceptibly, that we 
are fully persuaded no distinct line of demarkation 
exists between them; but on the contrary, they are 
nearly one and the same thing — what we call material 
may properly be termed grosser spirit, and what we 
call spirit may with equal propriety be termed finer 
or more sublimated substance or matter. 

It is the soul essence existing in all materialized 
forms which give them their true characteristics, for 
spirit in all cases may exercise authority over grosser 
material. Perhaps it may not be generally understood 
that every form of material substance, whether organic 
or inorganic, so-called, has a corresponding spiritual 
essence or soul; yea, the indivisible atom must be 
composed of spirit or matter, and possesses latent 
within itself the "promise and potency" which is 



THE SOUL OF THINGS. 21 

found in all materialized forms, else how many must 
we combine before we obtain such promise and potency? 
We have said this entity is a microcosm of all there 
can be in nature; and it certainly must be such, if all 
nature in all its marvelous differentiations is produced 
by infinitely varied combinations of these self same 
atoms. How can we introduce any peculiarities into 
an organized structure which did not originally exist 
in the finest elements of which the structure is entirely 
composed? If we could by any possibility approxi- 
mate the infinitesimal particle, we should doubtless 
find that each one is possessed of certain qualities 
peculiar to itself, although each must have within 
itself all possibilities of unfoldment, and thus be an 
epitome or microcosm of universal nature, because all 
forms and conditions of material substance are com- 
posed of these particles, hence all qualities and possi- 
bilities must be in them productive of this endless 
variety in nature. 

We have said that fire is a solvent; but caloric, or 
the matter of heat, a more spiritualized essence, is a 
still better solvent, for it enters into and decomposes 
those fluids which would extinguish the grosser element 
called fire. Caloric dissolves the globules of water, 
thus permitting the escape of the finer vesicles of vapor 
or steam, which are so etherealized that they rise and 
float upon the atmosphere. A fluid element still finer 
than caloric, called magnetism, which is its spiritual- 
ized essence, is entirely capable of entering into and 
dissolving the vesicles of vapor, thus eliminating elec- 
tricity; and here we find the three great positive and 
negative forces in nature rising one above another in 



22 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

power as they increase in sublimation. The relative 
difference between fire, caloric and magnetism is one 
of fineness or sublimation. Water, vapor and elec- 
tricity sustain the same relation to each other. It is 
simply "wheel within wheel" — spirit within spirit. 
Fire and water are antagonistic, spiritual, fluid ele- 
ments, both proceeding from the mineral kingdom. 
From these the superior powers caloric and vapor, 
magnetism and electricity, are eliminated; and these 
latter are superior, simply because they are more refined 
or sublimated. 

Finer, more spiritualized essences seem to be pos- 
sessed of two remarkable qualities — the one increased 
celerity of motion; the other powers of expansion. 
For instance, steam, which is a combination of caloric 
and vapor, demands eighteen hundred times the room 
that it did when these elements were cramped and 
confined in the grosser fluids, fire and water; and the 
velocity which it has attained is truly wonderful. All 
the force we can obtain from steam as a motor seems 
to depend entirely upon these two qualities — expan- 
sion and velocity. 

The same holds good concerning that most potent 
element, electro-magnetism, which is a combination 
of the two fluids. The increase of its expansive prop- 
erties, and its velocity over that of steam, defies all 
our powers of conception. We know, however, that 
this combined fluid can enter into the trunk of the 
mighty oak, or into the solid rock, and shiver them to 
fragments instantaneously; and it is perfectly clear 
that all this inconceivable force depends entirely upon 
these two properties — velocity and expansion. 



THE SOTJL OF THINGS. 23 

Whatever we may call the etherealized element 
which is eliminated upon the ignition of gunpowder 
or other still more powerful explosives, we may be 
sure that expansion and velocity are the properties 
which render that element so potent in producing its 
results. It has been ascertained that the spiritual 
essence which is set free upon the ignition of gun- 
powder, demands 2,500 times the space it did when 
confined within the grains of that explosive material. 
This proves conclusively that this element must be so 
extremely elastic as to be confined within this limited 
space, and would also corroborate the theory that each 
particle of substance or gross matter lies cushioned in a 
soft envelop of etherealized element, which is held in 
durance until a dissolution of the particles takes place. 

We claim that the real force produced in all such 
explosions is electro-magnetism, the velocity and expan- 
sive power of which is such that no amount of solid 
iron can hold it in durance when in full activity or in 
the exercise of all its wondrous potency. 

We ascertain, then, the astounding fact that potency 
is thus far increased as we approximate the infinitesi- 
mal; that expansion and rapidity of motion, those 
wonderful elements of force, are found to exist with 
that which is exceeding small, instead of the exceeding 
great. Were it not for this principle in nature steam 
would have no power, and this marvelous force which 
propels our locomotives and manufacturing establish- 
ments could not be thus utilized. Electro-magnetism, 
which is at the present simply foreshadowing what it 
is destined to do in the future for humanity, could 
never produce any of its overwhelming results. 



24 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

We must, however, bear in mind that there is one 
essential requisite in the generation of these ethereal- 
ized forces, which is the commingling of antagonistic 
elements. These wonderful manifestations of power 
are produced by the inharmonies in nature; by dis- 
agreements; by an inherent disposition which one 
element has to fight, and if possible destroy another; 
by the bitter hatred which seems to exist down in the 
very soul of things. Were it not for the mingling 
together of the positive and negative elements — these 
extremely subtile antagonisms which exist down in 
the infinitesimal realms — we could arouse no activi- 
ties; all would result in quiet, harmonious sleep, 
inactivity and apparent death. So we find that 
humanity, where these inharmonies seem to manifest 
themselves so conspicuously, have come honestly by 
their fighting propensities. Man is simply the highest 
organic unfoldment upon our planet, produced entirely, 
body and soul, from elements in nature less developed 
than himself; hence he must incorporate all these 
antagonisms, somewhat refined, into his own nature. 
Thus we find him this perfect bundle of incongruities, 
loving and hating, praying and cursing, alternately; 
fighting with the ferocity of a tiger, and again extend- 
ing the kindliest sympathies toward the victim of his 
wrath. 

Doubtless the spiritual selfhood of the human will 
at some time become so refined as to draw to itself 
elements which are more elaborate and harmonized, 
and then perhaps he may not exhibit so much of an 
antagonistic character, for most surely, unless nature 
provides some method by which the more advanced 



THE SOUL OF THINGS. 25 

intellectual beings can obtain sustenance divested of 
such antagonisms, there can be no harmonious condi- 
tions of intelligent existence in all the universal realms. 

If the foregoing view is correct, there must be some 
process in nature's extended laboratory by which her 
elemental substances may be refined and elaborated to 
an extent of purification which is beyond the reach of 
all antagonisms, where all conflicting elements may be 
harmoniously blended into a perfect unity. 

We have found that electro-magnetism is composed 
of a positive and negative, or two directly opposing 
elemental fluids; which fluids, when properly com- 
mingled, in consequence of their exceeding sublimation, 
become a force in nature entirely irresistible. As we 
have thus far increased our velocity and power of 
expansion by sublimation, and as the quantum of 
force seems to depend upon these two qualities, it 
might be supposed that a continued sublimation of 
material substance would be attended by still more 
powerful explosive properties. Such, however, does 
not appear to be the case. TTe have a more spiritual- 
ized fluid substance than electro-magnetism, which is 
called "aura," or the aural element, and we find not in 
its composition two separate fluids — one positive, the 
other negative — which are liable to explode when 
they come together, but a harmonious blending of 
both these properties in one elemental substance — 
harmonious, or they could not both exist together in 
quietness and peace. 

It would appear, then, that substance, when elabo- 
rated to this wonderful condition of sublimation, had 
parted with all its antagonisms, and come into that 



2D THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

concordant relation with nature itself to which all 
things are tending. We can look out upon the most 
magnificent displays of the aural element without any 
emotion of terror or dread, such as we feel when we 
behold the erratic shaft of electro-magnetism, perhaps 
because we consider the one harmless, while the other 
may prove terribly destructive; but this harmlessness 
must depend upon the fact that no discordant qualities 
can be found in this marvelously etherealized fluid 
substance. Aura is simply the spiritual element 
eliminated from electro -magnetism; but, very strange 
to say at this particular point of sublimation, the result 
has been a single fluid, containing both positive and 
negative, existing in perfect accord. 

Although we have found a point of sublimation 
where antagonisms are all beautifully blended, we have 
by no means found the ultimate soul essence. There 
is a fluid substance far more evanescent than aura, 
which for want of a better name we have been 
instructed to call empyria. In this we not only find 
an accordant blending of all inharmonies, but we find 
color, for this is really the coloring matter existing in 
the white light well known to the philosopher. "We 
behold wonderful displays of this most attenuated sub- 
stance in the rainbow, also by the use of the prism. 
We usually call this inconceivably sublimated fluid 
the primary or prismatic colors; but our invisible 
friends, who are possessed of visions capable of pene- 
trating far down into the infinitesimal, are pleased to 
term it the very essence of life. It is that essential 
element which we must continually inhale in order to 
sustain life; and it is that which is first inhaled by the 



THE SOUL OF THINGS. 27 

new born infant, thus rendering it an independent 
living- being. Each atomic particle of this most spir- 
itualized element is simply a living entity, and being 
such, it is capable of entering into and sustaining the 
life of a physical organization. 

We are apprehensive still that we have not explored 
the entire infinitesimal realm; there is evidently a 
broad domain which we have not as yet entered, and 
that is the domain of thought. Thoughts must either 
be something or nothing. If thoughts are not sub- 
stantially something, why do we talk of them as such, 
and express their various qualities? Can we properly 
express the quality of nothing, and say that it is a great 
or small, high or low, good or bad, profound or shal- 
low nothing? Yet with great propriety we say all 
this and much more concerning the thoughts enter- 
tained by different persons; hence they must be 
real objective somethings, or they would admit of no 
qualitative adjectives nor possess any distinguishing 
properties. 

Thoughts seem to be the soul essence of all things 
which have existence in nature. ]N"o matter what page 
you read in her mighty volume, each one is full of 
thoughts; and the person who is best cultured can find 
the most and best thoughts by a perusal of these 
sacred pages. Some people appear to pass through 
the whole journey of life and find their pathway to be 
but a barren desert, while others find everywhere 
beautiful gardens blooming with rich thought flowers. 
They are capable of perusing whole volumes in a 
single morning's ramble, and their minds become 
stored with an extensive treasury of knowledge they 



28 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

have gleaned from the simple objects with which they 
have thus formed an acquaintance. The thoughts 
making up this whole sum of intelligence were evi- 
dently in the various objects themselves, else they 
could not have been read so plainly. 

All the intelligence we can possibly obtain concern- 
ing any and every subject must come to us in the form 
of thoughts, some of which are evidently vastly more 
refined than others. Then, thoughts may be, and 
doubtless are, graded, like all other things, from the 
very gross unspiritnalized, suited to coarse, unculti- 
vated mentalities, up to the most refined and ethereal- 
ized, which can only be entertained or grasped by the 
highly exalted celestial being. 

The horse or the dog very evidently entertain 
thoughts concerning their food and many other sub- 
jects of great interest to them; but the thoughts 
which they are. capable of entertaining are compara- 
tively gross in quality. Still, these thoughts, such as 
they are, must enter into and find a brief residence in 
their undeveloped intellects in the same manner as 
more refined thoughts can be entertained by a highly 
cultured human mind. It is not supposed that the 
lower animals can by any means entertain some 
thoughts which may dwell in the mind even of the 
untutored savage, for his intellect has been unfolded 
to a greater extent, and thus made capable of grasping 
more refined and complex ideas, or those of a higher 
character; in other words, the thought particles he is 
capable of grasping may reach out further, because 
more refined or attenuated. 

Still the thoughts which may dwell in the mentality 



THE SOUL OF THINGS. 29 

of the savage are limited in their scope, and in quality 
vastly more gross than those entertained by the ordi- 
nary Caucasian, to say nothing of the accomplished 
philosopher or poet, whose minds may revel in the 
inexhaustible treasure house of beauties which are so 
abundant everywhere in nature's domain. We shall 
also find that the most brilliant conceptions or the 
rarest gems of thought that may glow in the loftiest 
intellect upon this earth, are limited in their powers; 
they by no means reach universal nature's furthest 
bounds. "There is more beyond, more evermore," 
because their thoughts are not sufficiently spiritualized; 
as yet they can survey but a very small portion of the 
vast infinitude. 

We may well suppose that the exalted intelligent 
beings who have passed through thousands of ages in 
the continuous unfoldment of their powers, and who 
have been thus refined by their residence in the ethe- 
real realms, may entertain thoughts and conceptions 
almost infinitely finer than those which can be grasped 
by our comparatively feeble intellectual organisms. 
They may go out further, descend down deeper, and 
ascend higher into • the vast arcanum, because the 
thought atoms which they can master are so incon- 
ceivably more ethereal than any reached by us in this 
rudimental sphere. 

We very clearly discover, then, that we can never 
entertain any proper conceptions of all there may be 
in the universal immensity until we can command 
thought atoms which are sufficiently etherealized to 
extend to all, and to penetrate all that can have an 
existence. When, if ever, we arrive at an unfolded 



30 THE GOSPEL OF NATCJKE. 

condition, where we can in our own persons command 
such resources, we may scan the great whole, and be 
independent of any other being for knowledge of 
every character; then we may perhaps fully compre- 
hend the very soul essence of all things. 

There can be no doubt but the substantial material 
of which all that appertains to our earth and every 
other planetary body, was at some time diffused 
throughout the great elemental ocean of space, in the 
form of infinitesimal atoms, and all these have been 
wakened into partial activity and manipulated into the 
forms of worlds by intellectual beings who possessed 
a perfect knowledge of the forces necessary to bring 
to bear in order to produce such grand results. The 
planetary worlds are but so many diminutive islands 
in the illimitable undivided ocean which occupies the 
immensity of the boundless universe. It will be obvi- 
ous to the reader that there are inconceivable portions 
of this infinite expanse which are at present entirely 
unoccupied by any active, moving worlds, and all 
entities therein existing, of which future worlds may 
be composed, are now lying in a perfectly quiescent 
condition, or in the state we call death, in the strongest 
sense of that term. Before active motion can by any 
means be introduced into these vast regions of frigid, 
electrical silence, darkness and death, it is very evident 
that some intelligent power must produce the neces- 
sary action that will arouse all the so-called primeval, 
ethereal entities into newness of life and motion. 
That which is under the influence of perfect, or the 
most profound sleep, must be awakened by some out- 



THE SO OX OF THINGS. 31 

side influence, as it has no power in that condition to 
produce a state of wakefulness and activity. 

It will be perceived that notwithstanding the mate- 
rial particles in this boundless elementary ocean are so 
etherealized and diffusive, yet each one must contain 
within itself all the elements and properties of all the 
others, or that each one must be a microcosm of the 
whole. If we perfectly analyze one drop of the water 
of the ocean, we shall find that drop to contain a part 
of all that every other drop contains, because the 
elements composing these drops are precisely the same, 
and unless invaded by foreign substances all are alike. 
Thus we find every molecule in the vast elemental 
ocean of space to possess every property and capability 
of every other, so that one may commence its unend- 
ing progressive journey with the same prospect of a 
successful arrival at the most exalted conditions as the 
other. We clearly see, then, that all are from one 
grand source in the great elemental sea of entities; 
that all in process of time must pass through similar 
conditions, in accordance with natural laws, the one 
equally with the other, in order to attain to that pro- 
gressive development to which each one is entitled. 

It is not that the original particle differs in quali- 
ties or properties that such a wonderful variet} r of 
substances are produced upon the earth, but because 
they are constantly passing through such an incon- 
ceivable variety of conditions. The atom must neces- 
sarily contain within itself latent all the properties 
and capabilities that will enable it to unfold through 
all possible conditions, and hence each one must be in 
every sense fully equal with the other; it is change or 



32 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

unfold m en t that presents them in all this infinite 
variety of forms that we behold upon the earth. They 
must be quite simple in their original quiescent con- 
dition ; but in passing through all the various degrees 
of change and development they present themselves 
in all these wondrous complications exhibited every- 
where in the realms of nature. These diversified 
states are all necessary, not only for the unfoldment of 
the spiritual entities, but for the production of worlds 
in all their sublimity and grandeur. 

If there is life there must be death; life comes out 
of death; it is nourished by death; some must die 
that others may live. The cattle upon a thousand 
hills suffer death that man may subsist and prolong 
his life. Yet the molecules composing the cattle are 
just as good as those existing in the man; for if not, 
why does man wish to incorporate them into his own 
organization? and why does he ruthlessly destroy the 
cattle in order to possess himself of those which he 
finds in them? He simply appropriates the proto- 
plasm he found in the lower organizations to his own 
private use, and thus supplies elements that will build 
up and restore his exhausted resources, and also com- 
plete his own organism. 

We discover that one colony or association of atoms 
can only subsist or maintain their activities by encroach- 
ments upon the rights of others. Some are apparently 
destroyed, or yield up their lives that others may con- 
tinue their existence in their peculiar forms; and such 
must necessarily be the case, else all things would 
cease to exist, and all animate forms would exchange 
their active condition for one of repose and death. 



THE SOUL OF THINGS. 33 

One entity can only commence its career of activities 
at the expense of the individual rights of another. It 
must make such encroachments, and obtain control 
over its fellow, or else remain eternally in its unde- 
veloped state. It can only enter upon its career of 
experiences and commence its active history by acquir- 
ing in some manner control or authority over its fel- 
lows, and thus accumulate to itself the elements it 
requires to aid it in passing through various changes 
where living experiences may be obtained. 

If the I^go — the I Am — the soul essence, or spirit 
entity within man, which permeates the entire body 
politic, is but the indivisible point of matter, and if 
this entity sits upon the throne of power and holds in 
subjection all others of which the individualized man 
is composed, both material and spiritual, then this one 
usurps authority and encroaches upon the rights of 
all the others which exist within the organization. 
Nevertheless, such must be the case, in order that all 
spirit entities may pass through all possible mutations, 
and thus be introduced to all manner of experiences. 
If there are monarchs there must be subjects; but it 
becomes necessary in this case, as it should in all 
others, that the ruling monarch should have passed 
through all the conditions and experiences below in 
order that he might be rendered capable of occupying 
his higher position as ruler. 

Before pursuing this subject further it might be well 
to ascertain more definitely what we understand by the 
spirit entity, and how much of the universal whole it 
may require to constitute an entity or an individualized 
being — an esse, or a conscious existence. If we can 
3 



34 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

ascertain this fact we may be enabled to get a partial 
glimpse of the very soul essence of all things. We 
have said, and again reiterate, that it can require but 
one indivisible particle to constitute the spiritual 
existence or entity; hence there must be just as many 
entities as there are_atoms, and each one is as capable 
of enjoying life and consequent experiences as the 
other, although they cannot all enjoy life and activities 
at one and the same time, for some must die that 
others may survive. Entities must exist in all possible 
conditions, in order that there may be a world with all 
its beauty and glory. How can we produce the plant 
or the tree unless some of the atoms compose the soil 
in which the plant or the tree is produced? Those in 
the one condition are certainly just as necessary as in 
the other, and contain latent the same elements, for 
the plant obtains from the soil precisely those which 
are required to- enter into its own composition. Then, 
which are best, those in the earth beneath or those 
which seem so charmingly sweet and beautiful in the 
full blown rose? 

The particles that compose the aroma of the rose 
never could have been elaborated had there been no 
soil in which the rose tree could have vegetated. The 
one, then, is just as important as the other, only they 
for the present occupy very different places. Further, 
it is very clear that some atoms in the soil beneath 
must have entered into the aroma of the rose, else 
there would have been no necessity of having a soil in 
which the rose tree might vegetate and procure its 
required nourishment. 

Has the human mind ever yet entertained the 



THE SOUL OF THINGS. 35 

remotest conception with regard to the number of 
individual entities that may be attached to this our 
globe? All ideas concerning that matter seem to have 
been shrouded in the darkness of an eternal night, 
because men have not seemed to possess the remotest 
conception of the soul essence, or that which consti- 
tutes a real entity — an Ego — an indivisible particle, 
which was capable of expanding and diffusing itself 
through the entire human or any other form that has 
an existence. Then we shall find the solution of this 
numerical proposition to be simply this: the number 
of entities equal the number of indivisible atoms; 
each atom is an entity, and each entity is an atom. 
Each one has a separate existence and a different his- 
tory, which had no commencement, because it dates 
from the undefined eternities of the past. If so, then 
they could not have been produced by any pre-existing 
cause; for, if there was a pre-existing power who had 
ability to produce the atom, that power must have 
created them from nothing, as they are the finest 
particles of matter, and of course there was nothing 
finer from which they could have been formed. 

The intelligent mind cannot for a moment admit 
that something can be made from nothing; and if we 
did we should not relieve ourselves from our difficulties, 
because we must immediately inquire how the power 
was produced who had the ability to create this some- 
thing from nothing. If the power which is said to be 
infinite found nothing in the universe from which He 
could produce what exists, then He must have sprung 
from nothing also; and suppose we should continually 
add nothing to nothing, we should merely have noth- 



36 THE GOSPEL OF NATUEE. 

ing as the result. But we find the universe filled with 
somethings — with untold millions of real things or 
entities — and we are compelled to conclude that all 
these real things are but an accumulation of real 
particles, and that all things, no matter how ethereal - 
ized they may happen to be, must be composed of real 
infinitesimal somethings, else they would be nothing. 

The great and perhaps only difference there can be 
between inorganic material and active ethereal aggre- 
gations of substance, is one of condition — the one is 
quiescent and apparently dead, while the other is full 
of life ; and the only reason why the ethereal particles 
do not become appreciable to us in our gross condition 
is that all our senses are too coarse and too material- 
ized to come in contact with them. We indulge a 
hope that we have been able to carry the mind of the 
reader down, or rather upward, to an approximation 
of the very soul essence of all things, and opened to 
his view some of the pages of that great volume in 
nature that has not been extensively perused by mortal 
man. There seems to be a considerable portion of our 
own existence that has been overshadowed by dense 
clouds, and the great question what are we, and of 
what are we composed, has been to most minds a 
hidden mystery. The very brilliant intellects that 
grace our modern pulpits, and who attract crowds of 
earnest listeners, are wandering in a maze of doubts, 
uncertainties and shadows, because they have no proper 
conception of the soul essence of things. 

When this divine knowledge bursts upon the mass 
of human minds with all its illuminating power, it is 
not too much to say that the world of thought will be 



THE SOTTL OF THINGS. 37 

revolutionized, and that man will throw off the shackles 
which have so long held him in abject durance. When 
men and women discover that the divine essence exists 
in them, and that they are composed of as good mate- 
rial as can be found in the broad realms of the 
universal worlds, and that all they require is experience 
in the various conditions through which an intelligent 
being may pass, then they will stand forth in all the 
dignity of their real man and womanhood. When 
they discover the astounding fact that they possess 
within themselves that which shall carry them person- 
ally to the most exalted position in the spiritual 
spheres that can possibly be occupied by any being, no 
matter what name we give them, then they may escape 
from that servile, cringing bondage which has been 
endured during all time wherever any of the varied 
religions have predominated. 

If these entities have existed from all eternity, then 
there could have been no previous cause which brought 
them into existence. The idea of a first cause must 
be a delusive myth, as there could have been no cause 
for that which had no commencement. So we may 
learn that the atomic entities from which all aggre- 
gated things are formed had an infinite existence 
entirely independent of all cause. However, the pro- 
gressive development of these entities must have had 
a preceding cause, as the atoms themselves must have 
been by some means brought into proper conditions 
where such development could take place. The atoms 
found in the grain of sand or pebble have evidently 
ultimated to that state by some pre-existing causes. 
Yet these causes only extend to the evolutionary pro- 



38 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

cesses the atoms have passed through, not to any 
original production. 

"We have remarked that we find the entities differ- 
entiated into every conceivable form and status by 
processes of evolution. We find some of them full 
of life and activity, while others are apparently devoid 
of these two properties, and seem to be in the cold 
embrace of inactivity and death. 

Those which now lie locked in the strong embrace 
of what we might appropriately term eternal death, in 
the midst of the granite mountain, are no less entities, 
and must possess latent all the powers of the one that 
occupies the highest position in the organization of 
the most brilliant intellect. The one is manifesting 
exceeding activity, and seems to be endowed with life 
energies in a very exalted sense of that term, while 
the other is enjoying what so many persons earnestly 
crave — a quiet sleep; a rest which would seem to be 
never ending; it slumbers apparently in the arms of 
an eternal death. Yet this death is not everlasting, 
for in the mutations of time the day will surely come 
when the solid granite of the lofty mountain must be 
disintegrated, and the entity which has slept for such 
an inconceivable period shall awake to newness of life, 
and commence its career of activities after its pro- 
tracted night of repose and quiet. 

All things require rest. The positive elements by 
their activities are constantly exhausting their own 
resources and becoming negative; thus they require 
rest. All nature must sleep a portion of the time. 
Day must sleep in the arms of night; life must ulti- 
mately rest in death ; there is doubtless as much of the 



THE SOUL OF THINGS. 39 

one as the other. Yegetation requires her winter of 
repose as much as her summer of activities. Every 
animal sleeps perhaps more than half its time; and 
man courts the quiet enjoyment of rest or sleep with 
as much earnestness as he does those which are 
dependent upon activity. Perhaps nearly one-half the 
time of every individual man or woman is spent in 
unconscious sleep; and we crave this sleep quite as 
much as we do a condition of wakefulness, and this 
rest seems to be quite as necessary to our continued 
existence. Then may we not suppose that individual 
entities, after they have passed through an active 
experience for billions of ages, or for eternal cycles, 
may desire to rest in unconsciousness a period of time 
that would equal that of their activities and conscious- 
ness? Do we not clearly discover that nature every- 
where demands this alternation of activity and rest, 
of life and death, of positive and negative conditions; 
and that a portion of the atomic particles must be 
dead that the others may survive? They must, as we 
have said, exist in all possible conditions, that each 
may assist the other, else it would not be a world with 
all its working machinery. How very natural it is for 
the weary soul to sigh for rest, to ask that they might 
sleep and be relieved of all this turmoil, care and 
anxiety incident to a living active existence. Then, 
after they had lived eternal ages, and passed through 
every experience that can be comprehended by the 
highest intellect and the longest possible period of 
wakefulness, it would be very natural to seek repose. 

If this principle is admitted, then it is quite pos- 
sible that an infinite number of these entities should 



40 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

seek their coveted repose, and ask to be placed in that 
condition where their rest could continue the longest 
possible period of time. Would there be any place of 
which the human mind can conceive that would be so 
likely to continue in a state of quiescence as in the 
midst of the granite of the rock-ribbed mountain, or 
in the fastnesses of earth's remotest depths? If not, 
then that would be the very condition those would 
choose who were desirous of resting for the longest 
possible period. While others might wish a repose of 
shorter duration, and could find it in something less 
permanent, where change would sooner take place, 
and where they might sooner be aroused from their 
slumbers, and recommence their new career of activi- 
ties. Thus we discover that it is by no means impos- 
sible that sufficient spirit entities should exist in a 
quiescent state to constitute all the solidified materials 
composing our globe; not only ours, but all the globes 
that may be found in the vast universe; and that every 
one of these entities may have passed through count- 
less eternities of active existence before entering upon 
another state of equally enduring sleep in this their 
present belizma. 

Is the human mind startled at this idea, or at this 
page which the opening book of nature's great volume 
reveals? It is no more startling than every other page, 
if we can so read them as to discover the soul essence 
which they contain. The reason why we have not 
been startled and astonished with the great facts that 
the inexhaustible pages of nature's divine volume dis- 
close to the illuminated vision, is simply because we 
have not perused it with an eye that has penetrated to 



THE SOUL OF THIN OS. 41 

its depths, and which has revealed to our minds its 
wondrous machinery. If all the profound mysteries 
of the great volume had been opened to our vision, 
there would be no propriety in any further research, 
and little use of saying or writing more upon any 
department of her works. 

When we look about us upon the surface of this 
somber old planet of ours, and behold ourselves amidst 
such a multiplicity of different objects, all composed 
of accumulations of infinitesimal atoms or individual- 
ities, each of which are equally good and equally 
capable of development, we may well wonder why and 
how they happen to be placed in such widely different 
positions. Why one is locked up in eternal darkness, 
another under our feet in the filth and mire, and still 
another blazing forth in the brilliant intellect of the 
statesman, the orator, or the poet. Why one of these 
entities, all of which are equally good and great, forms 
food for the worm in the dark recesses of the earth, 
and another impinges with all its glories upon the 
retina of the eye in the vibrations of the noonday 
light. Why one should be found in the envenomed 
poison of the viper or belladonna, while another exists 
in the odoriferous balm or in the grateful aroma of the 
flower-clad vale. 

We may simply answer that all these conditions are 
good and necessary and proper, and all experiences 
must be passed through in order to prepare the entity 
for the higher and more important phases of existence. 
That which is trodden in the mire under our feet to- 
day may be found in the flower and transported by the 
bee at some other time to his home of industry; and 



42 THE GOSPEL OF NATUHE. 

all these various entities are changing places as time 
rolls onward. 

Among all the countless billions of individual 
entities that compose our physical and spiritual bodies, 
how is it that one of all these should exercise supreme 
authority and hold entire control? We discover very 
clearly that somewhere in this human as well as other 
organizations there must be a controlling power; there 
must be an I Am — an individuality or entity who 
has usurped authority, or who has obtained it in some 
manner, and maintains universal sway, issuing his 
mandates to all his fellows, who meekly yield the most 
implicit obedience without question. The hand labors 
industriously, the feet plod along, although wearied 
with their continued exertions, in obedience to com- 
mands issued by some ruling monarch who controls 
and governs all. 

An imperious power — sometimes called the will — 
seems to dwell somewhere in the human organism, 
and exercise all this supreme authority over the entire 
domain. When any of its dominions are invaded, or 
any portion of its territory is dissevered by the loss 
of any member of the body, as an arm or a leg, this 
power seems to continue in its stronghold, and exerts 
its authority over what remains. How large a portion 
of the organism would it require to constitute this 
ruling monarch? How many of the spirit entities of 
which the whole is composed would be necessary to 
establish the living power that seems to occupy the 
throne somewhere within us? If there was any given 
number it might become necessary to deliberate in 
council upon all the questions that might arise before 



THE SODL OF THINGS. 43 

commands could be issued; and this would cause 
unnecessary delay. Again, they might disagree, so 
they could not act in concert, and there would be no 
action taken and no mandates issued. Even if it 
required but three or two entities to compose the 
ruling power within us, there might be divisions, and 
much that requires to be done upon the instant would 
be so long delayed that the safety of the organism or 
kingdom would many times be placed in great jeop- 
ardy, while prompt action would avoid all dangers. 
We find, then, that the ruling power must exist in a 
single individual entity, and that one must exercise 
supreme control over all others in the organism. 

Perhaps the query may again occur in regard to the 
manner which this entity obtained authority over all 
the countless myriads contained in the vvhole organism. 
We think if we answer this query satisfactorily we 
must go back to some earlier experiences in the his- 
tory of the ruling entity, and we shall probably learn 
that there must have been a time when its dominions 
were very much smaller, and that its authority was 
extremely limited. However, the very moment one 
gains ascendancy over any of its fellows, and takes it 
under his control, then its career of progress com- 
mences, for its power has doubled; it has the power 
of two instead of one. It may then go on increasing 
and accumulating until it passes through all possible 
mutations incident to existence, taking on those ele- 
ments it requires and throwing off those that have 
subserved its purposes. 

How did General Grant accumulate the power he 
has wielded in this nation as President, and did wield 



44 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

as General-in-Chief of all the armies during the great 
rebellion, while every individual citizen had an equal 
right to occupy the same position? The power he has 
possessed evidently has taken away a portion of their 
power, which they have resigned, in the one case for 
the purpose of maintaining governmental protection, 
and in the other for the sake of carrying out the great 
purposes of an army, which only can be done when 
strict military discipline is maintained. We should 
doubtless, if we undertook to follow to their source all 
the different streams of power that meander through 
a vast army, find that they culminate in the General 
commanding; all important orders must issue from 
him. If we search still further for this source of 
authority, we might find it in an indivisible point of 
matter, or a single spirit entity existing in and con- 
trolling the General-in-Chief, and that here was the 
real fountain head of all the power that radiates in 
every direction, thus diffusing itself throughout and 
holding in subjection the entire army. This conclu- 
sion is unavoidable, for, if you examine this matter 
ever so closely, you will find this power to be a unity; 
that it does not exist in the man's hair, or eyes, nose 
or ears, or any of the members of the organism; that 
it did not emanate from any given number of entities, 
but came direct from that divine, spiritual God-head 
within the man which controlled and governed all. 
Nevertheless, this power could not have manifested 
itself in such a manner unless it had passed through 
all previous conditions, and became qualified by its 
past experiences; neither could it have acted except in 
conjunction with all the entities in the person over 



THE SOUL OF THINGS. 45 

which it seemed to exercise this supreme control. We 
do not claim that the individual entity within the 
General which seems to control the whole army is any 
more divine than the one controlling the organism of 
the meanest soldier in the ranks. And we mid this 
controlling power just as dependent upon them as they 
are upon him. Each and all must work in harmony, 
that the grand purposes may be carried out and the 
ultimate objects realized. 

A spirit entity or a spiritual being can be no more 
divine in consequence of having passed through long 
and countless ages of experience, than the one who has 
little or none of all this experience and knowledge; 
the one is only in advance of the other; and although 
it may seem to be almost infinitely beyond in point 
of attainments, it may be to a certain extent dependent 
upon the other for the exalted position it enjoys. If 
this spirit individuality occupies a position in the 
higher realms far beyond our comprehensions, he 
arrived there by and through the aid of others who 
were below him in exaltation, and hence the obliga- 
tions are mutual; and there can be no more real pro- 
priety for the lower ones to debase and prostrate 
themselves in worship before the higher than there is 
for the higher to prostrate himself before the lower. 
The only possible difference is that one is in advance 
of the other; his active experiences commenced earlier, 
and he has accumulated more of them. Both and all 
are equally sacred and equally divine, and the one is 
just as much entitled to worship or adoration as the 
other. All in the grand economy of universal nature 
are occupying the precise positions assigned them, and 



46 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

filling the exact stations for which they have been 
fitted from the eternal past. 

Then we clearly discover that if there are those who 
are qualified to receive the exalted and distinguishing 
title of a God, they must have arrived to that position 
by virtue of the multitudinous experiences through 
which they have passed, and that they could not have 
passed all these varied experiences and accumulated 
all this inconceivable fund of knowledge without the 
aid of others below; hence in their advancement they 
have been dependent upon those below themselves for 
their exalted position even as Gods. Which now of 
these beings should oner the greatest amount of thanks 
and gratitude? Certainly the one who has received 
the most; the one who is above has surely obtained 
more than those below, and should in justice express 
the larger amount of gratefulness. For where the 
benefits bestowed are mutual, and both parties are 
dependent upon each other, the one that gets the most 
is certainly under the greatest obligations, and should 
be the more deeply penetrated with a sense of grateful 
emotions. 

The Indian in the forest is evidently more deeply 
indebted for his continued existence to the deer, the 
antelope, and the various animals and fish upon which 
he subsists, and which prolong his existence, than they 
are to him ; for they might live without him, but with- 
out them he would perish of starvation. Which, then, 
should offer the thanks, the animal or the Indian? 
Certainly the burden of obligations rests upon the 
higher, and his gratitude should be directed to the 
source from whence he has received his benefits. The 



THE SOUL OF THINGS. 47 

cattle upon a thousand hills are surely not so much 
indebted to man for their existence as man is to them. 
He may perform a little manual labor to furnish them 
with pasturage or provide them with sustenance 
during the winter season; but they offer up their lives 
that he may continue his existence, and so do all of 
the animal race, the fish of the sea and the fowls of 
the air. Then in our seasons of devotion and thank- 
fulness we should very evidently turn our attention in 
this direction, from whence we have received our 
benefits. 

Those spiritual beings who have ultimated in this 
sphere, thrown off their materialized garments, and 
passed on to more etherealized conditions in the spir- 
itual abodes, surely cannot furnish us with sustenance 
here upon the earth, because the elements of which 
they are composed are too line — too sublimated for 
our use. We cannot subsist upon them; we must 
obtain the elements we need from that which is 
beneath; we must go down to the gross organizations 
found in the animal or vegetable kingdom for the 
sustenance we require. Hence there is very little pro- 
priety in thanking the higher beings for our existence, 
which they certainly did not bestow, or for that sub- 
sistence necessary for its continuation. As they did 
not furnish us with life, they surely have nothing in 
their refined and spiritualized organisms which can in 
any manner contribute to the continued support and 
consequent prolongation of life here upon this earth. 
Then let us see to it as intelligent, or rather as intel- 
lectual men and women, that we offer our thanks and 
gratitude to those to whom such properly belong, as 



48 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

we should certainly offer them to the parties from 
whom we receive the benefits. 

It becomes quite evident that we are traveling upon 
a similar pathway with those who are in advance, and 
during all the varied experiences of this journey we 
are more dependent for the elements needed in our 
various conditions upon those below us than upon 
those above. Yet there is a strong probability, nay, 
even a certainty, that those above us may impart to us 
such as they have, if not of the coarser elements, they 
may give us the finer; if it is not such nourishment 
as will build up the muscular fiber of the physical 
system through which our spirit individualities mani- 
fest themselves, they may bestow upon us the thought 
particles, of which they doubtless have larger and 
rarer accumulations than ourselves. They may very 
easily suggest to our minds an idea which will give us 
the needed instruction, thus enabling us to procure 
the requisite sustenance; and in that manner we may 
incur obligations to them, and they should receive our 
respectful gratitude. 

But we have no occasion to abase and degrade our- 
selves in the presence of superior beings because they 
have conferred upon us a favor, or manifest any abject 
cringing servitude because they have advanced to a 
higher condition than ourselves. We may be fully 
satisfied of the encouraging fact that we have within 
us as good material as that of which they are composed, 
and that we are traveling upon a highway as broad as 
the one that led them to all their eminent spiritual 
excellence. We may be assured that no being has yet 
realized attainments which we are not capable of 



THE SOUL OF THINGS. 49 

achieving; that no celestial inhabitant of the supernal 
realms of glory occupies a position so high that we 
may not reach it by virtue of the immutable laws of 
progressive development. Then we may address our 
superiors — those who have been developed to a higher 
condition than ourselves, and have become capable of 
filling more elevated positions — with respectful sub- 
mission to their station and authority, such as we 
might have good reason to expect from those below 
us when we come to fill the same station and act in 
the same capacity. 

Can we suppose that those beings who are developed 
to the highest possible conditions of knowledge and 
consequent superiority, so that they may have acquired 
all the needed ability to administer the affairs of the 
government of a world like ours, really desire the 
abject, cringing homage or worship of those who are 
very far beneath them in acquirements and experience. 
How can all this soulless mummery that is enacted in 
our popular churches afreet such a being, except it be 
with ineffable disgust and loathing? 

We are not surprised, in the contemplation of this 
subject, that the Hebrew God, through his prophet, 
declared that their incense was an abomination unto 
him, and that his soul hated their Sabbaths and their 
new moons, and that he could not away with the 
calling of their solemn assemblies. There can be no 
doubt that such gross elements as were found in the 
sacred offerings of the Hebrews must have been a 
stench in the nostrils of any advanced spiritual Being, 
whatever opinions we may entertain of that particular 
individual God who is. supposed to have revealed him- 
4 



50 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

self to Moses and the Prophets. The so-called Hebrew 
God gave utterance to very many sensible remarks, 
for which He is entitled to great credit, and should 
receive the corresponding thanks of the world; and no 
doubt His reputation among thinking minds would 
have stood higher to-day if so much had not been put 
into His mouth which He most probably never sug- 
gested or uttered. Spiritual communications were 
surely as uncertain in the days of Moses and Joshua, 
David and the Prophets, as they are to-day; and 
doubtless many others communicated besides this par- 
ticular personage who styled Himself the I Am, not 
wishing to reveal at that time anything definite con- 
cerning His earlier history or personality. For this 
Being, who ever He was, must have had a history and 
earlier experiences in order to accomplish what he did 
in regard to the management of the affairs of the 
Hebrews. 

The foregoing cursory glance at the soul essence 
which must exist in all visible things, may illuminate 
the mind of the candid thinker concerning the vague 
and delusive character of those religious teachings 
which have been promulgated so extensively in the 
world, and which have exerted such an overwhelming 
influence over so large a portion of the human race. 
It will doubtless be discovered that this essence con- 
tains all power within itself, either latent or active, and 
that this power molds and modifies all outward or 
visible forms in which it temporarily resides, to suit 
its own present status and purposes. It will also be 
ascertained that absolute truth can only be found here, 
and that all external visible forms are but the shadow 



THE SOUL OF THINGS. 51 

or semblance of truth; only being such to the condi- 
tion in which they are found. 

We are sojourning while in these physical organisms 
in the valley, and under the shadows of deception, 
because the soul within us manifests itself in and looks 
out through this gross material organism; hence so 
much darkness and uncertainty. However, the most 
careless observer must readily discover that if we 
could obtain a comprehensive knowledge of the soul 
of things, we could arrive more directly at real truth, 
and that the grand reason why men at this present age 
of advancement are so overwhelmed by doubts and 
difficulties lies in their almost entire destitution of 
this knowledge. 

We trust this subject may be elaborated to a much 
greater extent in the succeeding chapters; and we 
close this with the simple suggestion that absolute 
truth can never be comprehended by the intellect 
until it forms an intimate acquaintance with the soul 
essence of the thing concerning which it would desire 
to obtain a knowledge. 



CHAPTEE II. 

INTELLIGENCE. 

Intelligence seems to convey about the same idea as 
information or knowledge. We usually term an indi- 
vidual who is well informed, or one possessed of a 
large fund of knowledge, an intelligent person. If 
intelligence is really something, it must exist some- 
where; and if men gather and retain it, they must 
gather it in those places where it may be found. It 
would be worse than idle to search for it where it is 
not. It is quite generally supposed we may find its 
dwelling place in the mentalities of reasoning beings, 
or such as have intellectual faculties sufficiently 
unfolded to grasp and entertain ideas. It is barely 
possible, however, that intelligence may exist to a cer- 
tain extent in what we term unreasoning beiugs, or 
those who do not seem to be possessed of powers suffi- 
ciently acute to grasp any series of thoughts or ideas. 

We might very properly institute an inquiry con- 
cerning the great source or fountain of intelligence to 
which thinking men have ever resorted in order to 
gather their varied stores of truth or knowledge. Has 
every one who during earth life seemed to accumulate 
a large amount of information or an extended stock of 
knowledge, and thus become what we term very intel- 
ligent, received all he has obtained from his neighbor 
or his predecessor? If so, his neighbor or his ancestor 

(52) 



INTELLIGENCE. 53 

must have obtained their intelligence from other parties 
also; and in that case it would be extremely difficult 
for us to discover how knowledge could so increase in 
our world, or how men could have received from their 
ancestors what was evidently not in their possession. 
As facts demonstrate that our fathers were not in pos- 
session of all the intelligence known to the present 
age, they could not by any possibility have imparted 
to their children what was not their own. 

Where, then, is the great treasure house in which 
may be found all this vast store of intelligence held in 
reserve for the children of men, ready for their use 
whenever they are prepared to avail themselves of its 
benefits? It must have its existence somewhere, and 
there must also be some machinery by which this vast 
fund of knowledge is communicated to the compre- 
hension of the human mind. There must be in some 
accessible portion of nature's vast domain an unwritten 
volume, whose broad illuminated pages are all opened 
for human inspection. Where can this divine work be 
found? Shall we travel to some distant portion of our 
own globe, or to some neighboring planet, in search 
of this sacred book? Shall we extend our researches 
into the musty worm-eaten tomes or revelations of 
past ages, or commence our inquiries right where we 
are, at home? We certainly need not go into any " far 
country" or supernatural region; but right here in 
our father's house, inside of nature's precincts, we shall 
find of this "bread enough and to spare" — an entire 
sufficiency of that intelligence we require to satisfy the 
most exorbitant demands. 

Doubtless the naturalist in his researches has sue- 



54 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

ceeded in unfolding some of- the wonderful pages of 
this exhaustless volume. He has evidently obtained 
from this source all his extended knowledge of the 
vegetable aud other kingdoms or departments in 
nature. Of whom has he inquired concerning the 
classification, the orders, the genus and species of the 
several plants, their virtues, uses and properties, if he 
did not interrogate the plants themselves? How could 
he have ascertained all the important and interesting 
facts in relation to this department of nature if he had 
not consulted the various inhabitants residing within 
its jurisdiction? How would he have been able to 
distinguish the apple from the plum, or the rose from 
the tulip, if he had not formed their acquaintance and 
held a sort of silent converse with all, and learned from 
each their individual structures and peculiar properties. 
We perceive, then, what the science of botany must 
have been drawn from, because it exists in the great 
multitude of plants constituting the vegetable kingdom ; 
and the accomplished naturalist is indebted to them, 
collectively and individually, for all he knows concern- 
ing their peculiarities. Had no one communicated 
with them, nothing would have been known about 
them. Do they not contain within their own circum- 
scribed limits all the intelligence there can be apper- 
taining to themselves? If not, where shall we apply 
for a more extended knowledge than they individually 
can offer? 

There can be no person in the world, however great 
his attainments, who is capable of gathering more 
intelligence or information concerning the herb of the 
field or the flowers that bloom in the garden than they 



INTELLIGENCE. 55 

contain within their own organisms; for here, and 
here alone, is the source and fountain of all knowledge 
men can possibly obtain in relation to this portion of 
nature's beautiful workmanship. If we gain any 
information from written books upon this subject, we 
are compelled, before we are certain of its truthfulness, 
to compare it with the pages which are unfolded in 
the great volume of nature in order to ascertain if the 
written book is a correct transcript of the unwritten 
one that is open before the eyes of every individual. 
We must try the language of the written book by the 
language we find inscribed upon the various leaves or 
pages in the vegetable kingdom before we know it to 
be truth. 

"We may extend our inquiries into the various 
departments of nature, and if possible ascertain where 
this wonderful stock of knowledge exists which has 
been transcribed upon all the scientific and philosophic 
works underneath which the shelves in our various 
libraries are groaning. Can it be there is a fountain 
head somewhere from which all this great array of 
learning has emanated — a vast receptacle, in whicli 
it is all contained, and so guarded that it is only 
accessible to a favored few who are graciously per- 
mitted to drink of these perennial waters? Such can- 
not be the case; for there is evidently an inexhaustible, 
an overwhelmingly capacious reservoir of truth and 
knowledge, whose copious waters have ever flowed, 
with all their invigorating and refreshing sweetness, 
and they have been alike free for all who would partake. 

There has ever been an open volume whose illumi- 
nated pages have never been contaminated by the 



56 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

slimy, mercenary teachings of monk or priest. It has 
come down to us from all past eternities without a 
single letter in its universal alphabet being obliterated, 
defaced or changed to the least possible extent. This 
volume reads to-day precisely as it did when the morn- 
ing stars sang together and the first born sons of God, 
or any other being, shouted for joy at the advent of a 
new born world. What we learn from this sacred 
volume will be as enduring as the infinite cycles of 
existence. The simplest passage transcribed from this 
book upon our inner organisms shall abide with us, 
though we die a thousand deaths and pass through 
innumerable changes; though we may be transported 
to the remotest portions of nature's mighty universe, 
and exist for countless cycles of ages; still that passage 
shall abide with us always, aiding in the upbuilding 
of our interior selfhood. 

The divine truths contained in this sacred book are 
of universal application. They must be as valuable to 
the inhabitants of Jupiter, Saturn or Neptune, or any 
of the fixed stars, as they are to us. They are as 
admirably adapted to meet the wants of the highest 
seraph, or the gloriously illuminated spirit who occu- 
pies the most exalted throne in the celestial world, as 
they are for theVeakest of the sons of earth; and but 
for the intelligence gained from these sacred pages, no 
one of all these beings could occupy their lofty positions. 
This volume will be perused with undyiug interest 
when Yedas and Shastas, Korans and Bibles, and all 
the so-called sacred writings of to-day, shall have 
passed away like so many waifs upon the ocean of time. 

It contains in all its innumerable pages not a doctrine 



INTELLIGENCE. 57 

or a faith, not a dogma or a belief; nothing but pure 
unadulterated intelligence, which has existed during 
all those antecedent eternities which knew no begin- 
ning, and must so continue to exist during all those 
of the future, which can know no termination. 

Reader, if you and I are elevated above the worm 
that crawls, or the meanest object in nature, it is 
because we have been permitted to read and under- 
stand a few of the countless pages in this mighty 
volume; and if we would rise higher we must continue 
to read and comprehend what this book contains. 
Ignorance is damnation ; and all the beliefs and faiths 
in the world will never save a single soul from that 
damnation. Nothing but intelligence can remove the 
curse; there is no power in the broad universe that 
can bring salvation, or save us from the fearful curse 
of ignorance and consequent folly, except experience 
and knowledge. Then we may as well draw nigh at 
once to the open fountain where intelligence may be 
found, and hold converse with those beings who have 
it in their possession. We have spoken to the inhab- 
itants of the vegetable kingdom, and have found them 
ready to respond to our earnest appeals for knowledge; 
they are willing to give us all they possess. 

Has not the geologist held silent communion with 
the rocks that compose the everlasting hills? If not, 
how has he obtained the intelligence that lies within 
them? He has studied them, says my friend. Ah! 
that will do! He has learned their language, the same 
as we do when we study books, and precisely what we 
do when we study or converse with men. We learn 
their language by listening to the sound of their vocal 



58 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

organs, and thus ascertain the idea they wish to convey. 
But there is a silent language impressed upon and 
existing in every object in nature which has never 
been " confounded," which always speaks truthfully to 
those who can understand its import. Men, when they 
talk, are at times exceedingly unreliable; they may tell 
us the truth, and they may not. There are a multitude 
of reasons why men do not in all cases speak the truth; 
and the prominent one is because they do not always 
comprehend what the truth may be, for comparatively 
few have read it correctly upon the broad tablets where 
native truth is found inscribed. Could men familiarize 
themselves with all there is in nature, and become per- 
fectly acquainted with the silent language existing in 
all things, and acquire the intelligence found within 
them, there would be little difficulty in arriving at 
knowledge. 

One of the prominent difficulties which seems to 
operate very disadvantageously to the people of the 
present age, as well as the ages that have gone by, is 
that they have quite generally rejected this mode of 
obtaining intelligence, and placed implicit reliance 
upon a written volume, which originated in the ruder 
periods of man's history, amid the dense clouds of 
darkness and superstition which overshadowed the 
earlier inhabitants of the world. Hence the real intel- 
ligence drawn from the true fountain where it exists 
unadulterated has been made subordinate to the so- 
called written word or divine revelation. 

The intelligence which man might have obtained by 
holding converse with all the various objects in the 
natural universe, has been deemed of little importance 



INTELLIGENCE. 59 

compared to that which could be gleaned from the 
written volume. The one was supposed to appertain 
only to this life, while the other they claimed reached 
out and took hold of those conditions in the spiritual 
abodes which would open up to our view when this 
life had drawn to a close. The one has been called 
temporal, as being attached to time upon the earth, 
while the other was called spiritual and eternal, because 
this knowledge was supposed to look toward a spiritual 
or eternal state of existence. 

There are untold thousands, if not millions, of some- 
what intelligent people living in the world to-day who 
entertain a sort of abomination for all that is natural ; 
who, under the instructions of an apparently intel- 
lectual priesthood, are vainly endeavoring to live out- 
side of nature, and get into the so-called supernatural; 
and thus they pass their lives in a maze of shadows 
and uncertainties. 

We quite frequently hear very good, well-meaning 
people remark, in an excess of devoutness, that they 
want nothing save Jesus and him crucified; and yet 
they eat and drink, dwell in houses and sleep in their 
beds; they read books, and enjoy the society of their 
companions and children, and are surrounded by innu- 
merable comforts which they appreciate very highly. 
They probably do not intend to be guilty of telling an 
untruth when they say this; but they are evidently 
telling what is far from correct, for if they will stop 
and reflect a little they may discover they want almost 
everything else, and Jesus is the very last thing they 
really need. There is not a man or woman living to- 
day who can solemnly affirm of their own knowledge 



60 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

that this Jesus has ever, at any time, supplied any 
single one of the numerous wants that have occurred 
during their history, or that he ever will supply any 
of their accruing wants during all the ages to come. 
Then we may ascertain that there is very much in this 
world of immense value to the human family entirely 
independent of Jesus or the Apostles or Prophets, and 
that these personages have never made one hair white 
or black in regard to all this array of intelligence 
which exists in nature's vast arcanum. 

If Jesus, or those who wrote his history, had a more 
extended knowledge than we enjoy, they too must have 
read the great unwritten volume; they must have held 
converse with nature in her varied departments in 
order to have obtained that knowledge; they must 
have gone to the fountain where intelligence exists in 
all its regal glory, or else obtained it second hand from 
some one who had been there. If the so-called divine 
revelation conveys to the mind one jot of real knowl- 
edge, that knowledge must be drawn from the source 
of all intelligence; it must have existed originally in 
the living molecules or spirit entities of which all 
things in the natural and spiritual universe are com- 
posed, and that intelligence must have been elaborated 
by the continual change and unfoldment of these 
before it could have been communicated to the parties 
who gave this revelation. All of truth which divine 
revelation can possibly contain exists to-day some- 
where in the different departments of the natural 
universe, and is only a transcript from the great 
volume which contains all; and those sayings are no 
more truthful for having been transcribed. The truths 



INTELLIGENCE. 61 

found in the so-called divine revelation (if it contains 
any truth) may be read to-day somewhere upon nature's 
inexhaustible tablets, where all intelligence is inscribed, 
as well as upon the day in which they were written. 
Hence, if they cannot be found there they are spurious 
— not genuine; they are mere fallacies, and unworthy 
the attention of cultivated minds. 

The real intelligent idea that first enters the mind 
of the child and begins to exert its expanding influ- 
ence, is evidently a portion of the knowledge of a God, 
or of the most developed beings who exist, or those 
beings could not possess all knowledge. Hence, the 
simple ideas which can be entertained by the child are 
quite as important as any others in the whole range 
of intelligent thought, for they are required to prepare 
the intellect for the reception of higher and still higher 
intelligence, which may be gleaned from the bright 
and glowing fields found in the spiritual domain. It 
was very natural, then, for us as children to be placed 
in this rudimental or more materialized condition first, 
that we might gain our early experiences amidst 
material objects of a comparatively simple character. 
And in order to accomplish this more successfully, we 
have been provided with the organs of sense; we can 
see these objects in nature with our eyes, handle them 
with our hands, hear with our ears any sounds which 
may proceed from them, taste of their fruits, or smell 
any of the various odors which they may produce. 
We have been provided with perceptive faculties that 
may discriminate and combine and compare one with 
another, and gain intelligence from all these various 
objects in a thousand different ways. 



62 THE GOSPEL OF NATUEE. 

And yet, in direct contrast with this appropriate 
method which nature has introduced, the Christian 
teacher and the devout parent introduces to the mind 
of the child the most complex and difficult ideas which 
they do not claim to have seen, handled, smelt, heard, 
tasted, or even comprehended in the least degree. 
They talk to their children all about an omnipotent 
God, who dwells somewhere in the ethereal worlds, 
who had an only begotten son born of a virgin. They 
talk also of the Holy Ghost and the devil, and that 
terra incognita, the Garden of Eden; the first man, 
and the woman who was made from one of his ribs, 
and the apple she ate from the forbidden tree at the 
instigation of the serpent, and a thousand other vague, 
incomprehensible ideas. They teach the child to read 
from this so-called divine revelation the history of that 
barbarous race, the early Hebrews, and call them God's 
chosen people, and to regard the absurd stories which 
have accumulated in their writings as profitable and 
sacred. They indoctrinate the older child into a firm 
belief in the benefits of a vicarious atonement, and the 
infallibility of those ancient records which teach this 
and a hundred dogmas and beliefs equally absurd and 
visionary; and they call this the very quintessence of 
a Christian education — an education, they say, which 
is calculated to elevate and glorify the human char- 
acter, and raise man from a condition of ignorance and 
heathenism up to a blessed state of Christian intelli- 
gence and religious enlightenment worthy the highest 
admiration. 

We simply remark that there never was a religion 
adopted by any people upon the face of this mundane 



INTELLIGENCE. 63 

sphere that has contained one particle of intelligence 
within all its beliefs and ceremonials; that every one 
of them have been adopted in consequence of a lack 
of intelligence — for the want of that knowledge which 
is of the most substantial, enduring and elevating 
character. There never was a dogma, a faith, or a 
belief attached to any of the numerous religions that 
ever had the least tendency to expand the intellect or 
increase the intelligence of a single person since men 
have existed as conscious individuals. There never 
was a form of worship or a ceremonial introduced into 
any of these various religions which ever added a 
single valuable thought to his stock of real knowledge, 
or that had the least tendency to illuminate the under- 
standing in any proper sense of the term. 

Intelligence comes from an entirely different direc- 
tion. Does the geologist who would acquaint himself 
with all the information connected with his department 
of science obtain his intelligence by attending to any 
of the ceremonials of religion, or first confessing his 
sins, and adopting a blind faith? Would his best plan 
be to first unite with one of the popular churches, and 
attend religiously to all the duties they would pre- 
scribe? There are very many thousands who have 
been in these various churches for a long time, and 
enjoyed all their practical benefits, who never read a 
single intelligent sentence inscribed upon the rocky 
tablets of universal nature, and whose minds upon such 
subjects are still overclouded by the murky shadows 
of night, having hardly commenced that educational 
school, which is to continue through the eternal ages 
of their future existence. 



64 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

The geologist evidently does not look in this direc- 
tion for his intelligence; he must go where he can find 
what he requires — to the pebble, or the grain of sand — 
and ask of them what secrets they have to unfold. He 
must inquire of the ever enduring rocks, whose brows 
seem frosted o'er with the accumulations of countless 
winters. He must ask of the solid granite himself for 
its true characteristics, its nature and properties, for 
no one but the granite can relate its history. If he 
fails to elicit intelligence from his hoary majesty, as 
he sits enthroned the ancient king of the everlasting 
mountain, he must fail to receive the required infor- 
mation. The limestone, the slate, the sandstone, or 
the chalk formations can only speak for themselves. 
They evidently have a shorter history than the granite, 
and are quite incompetent to speak for this aged sire, 
or tell from whence he came. 

The only possible intelligence we can gain, then, 
concerning the various geologic formations, is by listen- 
ing to their silent converse and permitting them to tell 
their own stories, or reading upon their well-inscribed 
pages an exact account of their true natures and prop- 
erties. By so doing the granite has already revealed a 
fund of knowledge concerning himself which has been 
transcribed into the various books that treat upon the 
subject. 

Men quite generally, in order to obtain a knowledge 
of this matter, as well as any other science, resort to 
the books which have been written by those who have 
attained some proficiency in their several professions. 
But long before they complete their education they 
must resort to the various departments of nature, and 



INTELLIGENCE. 65 

ascertain if what they have read in the books is there 
corroborated. It was because Euclid made a discovery 
in the natural universe concerning cubes, triangles and 
circles, and transcribed the intelligence he had gained 
upon the pages of a book or a roll of parchment, so 
that this intelligence could be more easily acquired by 
other men, that we call this science at the present day 
Euclid's geometry. Did this old Greek monopolize 
and take into his immediate possession the facts and 
principles connected with geometrical figures? All 
these figures and forms, together with the principles 
upon which all the problems concerning them are 
solved, are as eternal as the universe of matter, and 
certainly existed independent of any being who ever 
walked the earth or dwelt in the celestial spheres. 
All that a Euclid or a God could have done in relation 
to this matter was to hold silent communion or con- 
verse with these forms, and learn what they had to 
unfold concerning the grand principles by which they 
were and always will be governed. 

We may read with great care and attention all that 
ancient and modern geometricians may have said, and 
solve all their problems with great mathematical pre- 
cision; yet, before we can learn all that is to be learned 
upon this sublime subject, we must go to the fountain 
head, and read the inscription which nature has made 
upon her own divine tablets; we must go to the same 
source from whence these eminent men gained their 
intelligence. TTe shall surely find in nature all that 
they have found ; and if we have the required intel- 
lectual powers we may find more, for we may not 
suppose that all intelligence concerning this science 
5 



t>b THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

has yet been revealed to man, or that the various forms 
in nature have told all the story they have to unfold. 
The revealment and solution of the celebrated problem 
of the square of the hypotenuse by Pythagoras, has 
been of more real practical benefit to humanity than 
all that has been told in connection with their religion 
by all the Popes and Christian fathers from Peter 
down to the would-be infallible Pius IX.; and the 
name of this philosopher shall flourish in perpetual 
greenness. The memory of such men, who have 
gleaned from the unexplored fields of nature some 
intelligent thought which had hitherto lain buried, 
will live and be hallowed by the minds of those suc- 
ceeding ages, who will only remember the religious 
devotee as having been connected with the ceremonials 
and idle superstitions of a dark age and a semi-barbar- 
ous people. 

Men have erected institutions of learning in which 
the principal branches taught were a knowledge of the 
languages made use of by the Greeks, Romans, 
Hebrews, Chaldees and Arabs. All this was very 
proper, providing the pupils could thereby arrive at 
the intelligence those ancient people had treasured up; 
otherwise, a knowledge of the language they used in 
conveying their ideas could not have been of the least 
importance to the student who was in pursuit of intel- 
ligence. As all these different languages were but so 
many vocal sounds, or written characters expressive 
of certain ideas or particles of thought, and not one 
of those mere sounds or characters have retained any 
of the particles they conveyed when they were used 
for that purpose any more than the farmer's wagon 



INTELLIGENCE. 67 

still retains the produce it conveyed to market ten 
years ago. "We might as well expect to make bread 
from the wagon or car wheels which transport the 
wheat, as to gain intelligence from a dead language 
which was formerly the vehicle used in conveying the 
ideas of a people from one to the other. There is no 
intelligence locked up in a dead language. If these 
several languages ever conveyed any knowledge to or 
from those who used them, that intelligence is still 
living in all its pristine glory upon the broad open 
pages of universal nature. 

Can intelligence or knowledge or truths exist in a 
book? By no means; they can only exist in the ever- 
living fountain, and all the book can possibly do is to 
give us some incomplete information concerning the 
intelligence the author may have found in his researches 
through some of nature's broad and pleasant fields. 

Audubon traveled far and wide for years through 
the vast forests of the American continent before he 
presented to the world his book, called the Birds of 
America. Can it be supposed that he conveys to the 
mind of the reader in that book all he learned in his 
extended travels? Certainly not; yet all he learned 
remains upon the pages of nature still, and may be 
read again by any one who wishes to take the trouble; 
and much more still remains than ever was conceived 
of by this distinguished naturalist. The only possible 
way this enterprising traveler could obtain any knowl- 
edge concerning the birds which he has painted so 
beautifully, was to make their acquaintance; and all 
the intelligence he could possibly glean concerning 
them he obtained from this feathered race. Had he 



00 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

not done so, he would have known nothing concerning 
them. Then, very evidently, the intelligence must 
have been within the bird itself; and somehow it was 
conveyed by a silent language to the mentality of the 
naturalist. 

An enterprising captain, who had for a long period 
of time navigated a steamer between San Francisco 
and Portland, in Oregon, became so ver} T familiar with 
the character of the dSris that was washed from the 
mouth of the Columbia river, and also that which 
flowed from the Golden Gate, that he could go with 
safety into either harbor in the most dense fog or the 
darkest night, by simply examining the sands brought 
up by the lead in sounding. Thus he gained intelli- 
gence from this sand brought from the bottom of the 
ocean, concerning his whereabouts, sufficient to secure 
the safety of his ship and passengers. He held silent 
converse with these minute grains of sand; and they 
told him from whence they came, and that they only 
were found in the channels that would conduct him to 
those harbors of safety. Had there been no grains of 
sand found, he could have gained no such information. 

A certain jehu, whose official position was that of 
conducting the stage from Boston to the White Hills, 
related to one of his passengers, with great glee, a 
story concerning a lot of fellows who rode with him a 
few days previous, and who it appeared had chartered 
his vehicle for their own especial accommodation. He 
said they were pretty good looking and wore good 
clothes, but they had with them canvas bags, stone 
hammers, and some other tools, and they were fre- 
quently stopping to gather up little pebbles by the 



INTELLIGENCE. 69 

roadside. When they came to a rock or pile of stones 
they would stop the coach, get out, and hammer away, 
breaking off small pieces and jabbering over them 
some language he could not understand; and he said 
they continued this all the way to their destination. 
Really, they acted like a parcel of fools; and he never 
could comprehend what they intended, or what they 
were in search of, or what they wanted of the pieces 
of rock with which they filled their satchels. The 
reader will discover that they were a party of gentle- 
men who were students of nature; and eager to become 
more familiarized with this particular department, they 
were conversing with the various rocks they discov- 
ered, and thus gaining intelligence which cannot be 
found in our college halls, because it is only obtained 
from this natural fountain head of intelligence. 

The anatomist, if he would get a clear and compre- 
hensive view of the different portions of the physical 
system of either man or beast, must dissect, and 
inquire of the various organs in relation to their 
several uses and their peculiar properties. He must 
ask of the muscles and bones, the arteries and veins, 
the sinews and nerves, concerning the particular duties 
they perform in the animal economy; he must read 
upon the pages which they unfold, and he finds here an 
unerring guide to that intelligence he requires. Here 
is the grand revelation which nature has made con- 
cerning this portion of her handicraft; and without 
holding this silent converse with all the different 
organs in the whole machinery of the human system, 
the anatomist and physiologist would remain forever 
ignorant of their appropriate uses. 



70 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

We find, then, very conclusive testimony establish- 
ing the great fact that all real substantial intelligence 
absolutely exists in, and is a component part of, the 
object in nature of which we may obtain a knowledge; 
and that the only possible method of obtaining the 
intelligence inherent in all tilings is by a consultation 
with the objects themselves. Intelligence, it is obvious, 
must be a concomitant of something — it cannot exist 
in nothing; therefore, it will always be found in the 
company of real essences or material things. Some- 
thing, in order to be such, must be composed of the 
atomic particles which were originally, and may be 
again, infinitesimally etherealized. Then we shall 
learn that all intelligence must have had its origin in 
this infinitesimal entity of which all is formed; for if 
this wonderful element did not exist in the least par- 
ticle of material substance from which all things are 
produced, how could it have been introduced into the 
various accumulations which have resolved themselves 
into all the different real, substantial objects we find 
in nature? 

We now learn that we must go downward to the 
most etherealized atom before we can find the original 
abiding place — the grand reservoir or fountain head 
from whence all intelligence comes to the human intel- 
lect. Thus we arrive at the conclusion that intelligence 
has absolutely resided and found its home, from all the 
eternities which have ever rolled onward in their 
ceaseless rounds, with the smallest particle of material 
substance; here has been its abiding place, and here 
may be found the infinite reservoir — the living fount- 
ain — from whence has come all the intelligent thought 



INTELLIGENCE. 71 

that beautifies the most intellectual beings in either 
the material or spiritual abodes. 

There can be no doubt but an inconceivable extent 
of unoccupied territory must still remain in the infi- 
nite realms of space, where no suns or planets have as 
yet been wakened into activity and life. Neither can 
it be doubted that those unoccupied regions contain 
all the material substance or atomic particles necessary 
for the ultimate construction of all the worlds, which 
may be considered requisite by those exalted spiritual 
beings who may control their erection and manage 
their affairs. 

No one can suppose, who gives this subject a 
thought, that the worlds are all built or that this 
universe is finished; but we are compelled to conclude 
that new worlds and systems of worlds will spring 
into existence, or be constructed by the same means 
used in the production of those which are now per- 
forming their revolutions, and which are teeming with 
active living beings in all stages of unfold ment. "We 
must also conclude, that as these stupendous enter- 
prises have been carried out during all past eternities, 
they will continue to be accomplished during all those 
of the future. Where, then, shall be found all the 
intelligence that shall constitute a part and parcel of 
these new formed worlds? Shall it be imported to 
them from some far off region, and thus bestowed 
upon their inhabitants, or shall it be manufactured to 
order expressly for their benefit? We discover at once 
that all of intelligence they will ever enjoy must have 
existed in the atomic particles or etherealized essences 
from which these new formed worlds must be com- 



72 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

posed; for it certainly could not be introduced at a 
subsequent period into these particles, or into the 
various forms which are produced from their aggrega- 
tions. 

It cannot be that in the construction of a world any 
element can be introduced from some other portion of 
the universe which does not exist in a latent condition 
in the original matter from which the world is pro- 
duced, as no good reason can be assigned why elements 
should exist in one portion of the infinite ocean which 
do not exist in every other portion. Then all worlds 
must be dependent upon their own resources for all 
the forces and elementary possibilities they contain, 
and must unfold in all their departments without any 
foreign aid, simply by evolving the inherent latent 
qualities and properties contained in the material sub- 
stances of which they are formed ; and all these elements 
of unfoldment must come up from the original soul 
essence, else it could not exist in the ultimate world. 

If the primeval atoms are in a state of repose or 
sleep, they must convey very little intelligence; but 
if they are in a state of activity, they certainly may 
exhibit much more. The grain of sand evidently con- 
veys a less amount of information than the living 
animalcule or infusoria; but each offers up willingly 
to the student of nature all they possess. The grain 
of sand has revealed all that is known concerning its 
constituent elements, and has informed the naturalist 
how much of silicon, oxygen, or any other element, it 
may contain; and by the aid of the requisite lenses it 
may inform him of its exact form, and relate a very 
considerable portion of its previous history. 



INTELLIGENCE. 73 

The animalcule can say very much more concerning 
itself, or very much more may be learned by listening 
to its silent language. It may tell a wondrous tale 
concerning its physical organization, its sense or power 
of seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling; and 
it may converse at great length in relation to the com- 
plicated machinery introduced into its structure. It 
may startle us by endeavoring to give an idea of the 
infinitesimal fineness of the particles which compose 
its organs of vision — the cornea, the retina, and pupil 
of its eye, and the delicate nerves that convey this 
sense of vision to the brain. It might, perhaps, in its 
silent language, talk learnedly of its digestive organs, 
and the peculiar character of the food best suited to 
its appetites and tastes. 

Very many volumes have been, and many more 
doubtless will be, written from this vast fund of intel- 
ligence in the possession of the animalcuhe, which is 
entirely beyond the reach of human vision, and which 
can only be discovered by the aid of powerful micro- 
scopic lenses. This knowledge was all retained by 
them in their own possession until the introduction 
of the microscope permitted men to form their 
acquaintance, and opened to our astonished vision this 
new world of wonders. 

Men may learn, then, in process of time, that they 
have looked altogether in the wrong direction for the 
great source of intelligence. They have been peering 
out into the realms of space, expecting to find some 
infinite personality who contained within himself the 
vast accumulation, the fountain head of all knowledge, 
and they have looked in vain ; they have never found 



74 



THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 



it existing in any such personality. All the reveal- 
men ts which men claim come to us from that direction, 
show most conclusively upon their own face their 
spurious and fallacious character; and these written 
revelations, by their utter deficiency in real substantial 
knowledge, prove conclusively they did not come from 
the fountain where intelligence finds a dwelling place. 

Which can we suppose will be the most enduring, the 
system of geometry compiled by Euclid, or the Mosaic 
history of the creation of the world? Which contains 
the greater amount of intelligence, and which is best 
sustained and substantiated by evidences inscribed upon 
the walls of the natural universe? There is not a 
solitary man who has a sufficiently expanded intellect 
to comprehend the principles taught by Euclid that 
ever entertains a shadow of doubt concerning their 
truthfulness. Neither is there one who has any com- 
prehensive knowledge of the nature and capabilities 
of the human intellect, but will readily recommend 
him who desires to expand and improve his faculties 
and powers of thinking and reasoning to acquaint 
himself with the principles of geometry, as presented 
by this so-called heathen author, who never heard of 
a bible. And why all this? Simply because these 
principles are found in nature, and their value and 
truthfulness is being better comprehended as man pro- 
gresses onward to his higher destination. 

But what of the Mosaic account of the world's crea- 
tion — this so-called divine revelation contained in the 
first three chapters of Genesis, and which is said to 
have come to us directly from an infinite personal 
intelligence, in order to instruct us in relation to that 



INTELLIGENCE. 75 

important passage in the world's history? Is it quite 
generally accepted by intellectual thinking men as a 
truthful history of events that have really transpired? 
Can we look out upon the inscribed tablets of nature 
anywhere and read what would in any sense of the 
word corroborate a single line related in that history? 
So far from this, there is not an honest, unprejudiced 
man, who has made any considerable attainments in 
scientific knowledge, who dare lay his hand upon his 
heart and affirm that the human mind is capable of 
gathering the least particle of intelligence from this 
history concerning the origin of the earth, of man who 
dwells upon the earth, of the sun, moon, or any of the 
hosts of planetary worlds by which we are surrounded. 
Every intelligent man must admit that we might 
peruse and obtain a knowledge of every word of that 
history, and still remain as ignorant of the various 
processes by which the earth assumed its present form, 
and by which man and the animals made their appear- 
ance as inhabitants upon its surface, as the chair upon 
which we sit or the desk upon which we write. 

What absurdity and incongruity is presented in the 
idea that this infinitely wise and powerful personal 
Being should create from nothing another intelligent 
being, precisely in accordance with His own infinite 
conceptions and ability, pronounce him not only good, 
but very good, and then in a few days turn him out 
of the garden prepared for him, because he proved 
bad, and very bad. Is there any real intelligence in 
this story, or does it look reliable upon its face? 
Neither; nor does it convey to the mind of the reader 
oue expanding, ennobling thought, or one that is 



76 THE GOSPEL OF NATUKE. 

established by any evidences that we can find graven 
in nature's universal volume. And yet this simple, 
unnatural story is as well established by the facts 
found in nature as most of the stories or dogmas and 
teachings that comprise the pages of this so-called 
infallible word of divine truth, which is said to have 
come to us from the infinite personal God. 

Is there anything contained in the sentence which 
reads, " and He made the stars also," that is calculated 
to throw one ray of light upon the interesting subject 
of the formation or production of all this vast display 
of twinkling luminaries which constitute the sideral 
heavens, each one of which is proven by the most 
undoubted evidence to be a fully developed sun, per- 
haps in the midst of a solar system? Is it not proven 
most conclusively upon the face of this ancient legend, 
that somehow found a place in the sacred writings of 
the Jews, that ■ the author, who ever he might have 
been, supposed that the sun, moon and stars were 
simple adjuncts to this little planet we inhabit, merely 
placed out in the realms of space for its accommodation 
and convenience? 

The author has appropriated five entire days of the 
memorable week in which the creative energies of that 
omniscient and immutable personal being was brought 
to bear in the production of this little, comparatively 
insignificant planet of ours, while but a portion of a 
single day was devoted to the manufacture of the sun 
and moon, and the remnant of that single day in 
bringing into existence all the infinite host of planetary 
bodies — the inconceivable and uncomprehended multi- 
tude of suns that shine forth in all their glory and 



INTELLIGENCE. 77 

magnificence in the sideral heavens. Does this passage, 
which claims to have been written for the purpose of 
conveying to the human mind some information con- 
cerning the beginning of all material existence, bring 
with it a single raj of intelligence? Every well 
informed person must answer in the negative; because 
you can find nothing in nature that corroborates or in 
any way tends to establish the truth of this statement. 
On the contrary, every particle of intelligence which 
has come to us from the stars, the sun and the moon, 
plainly and flatly contradicts the statement made in 
the text. Is there any lineament or feature in the 
sun's bright and expanded face that would inform us 
that he was made in a fractional part of a day, or that 
he was formed or created since our earth came into 
existence, and as a sort of adjunct or necessary append- 
age to this planet? 

Certainly all the intelligence we can gain respecting 
the sun has come to us directly from the sun itself. 
There can be no exalted intellect in the celestial 
spheres who can convey to our minds any intelligence 
concerning this central orb in our solar system, unless 
some one had first gained it from the orb itself; for 
all the intelligence that is immediately connected with 
the sun exists in itself, and how shall it be obtained 
unless from that particular source? A very cursory 
glance at the sun by an astronomer informs him 
beyond a doubt that it is very many hundred thousand 
times larger than our earth; that it is placed in the 
center of the solar system to which the earth is 
attached; that it exerts a controlling influence to a 
certain extent over this entire solar system; and that 



78 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

the earth is comparatively a trifling appendage to this 
great central orb. And further, that instead of being 
produced upon any fourth day of creation, it must have 
had a planetary history that dated untold billions of 
years before our little planet earth was materialized. 

If we look out upon the moon, whose experience 
and intelligence is enfolded within itself, we shall learn 
from its pale face that it must have had a material 
history of far shorter duration; that it is really an 
appendage of the earth, and is to an extent dependent 
upon it for a part of its evolutions; and being so, it 
must have made its appearance in the heavens at a 
subsequent period. Its inferior comparative size, its 
small distance from the planet around which it revolves, 
the short period of its orbital revolution, and the fact 
that it revolves around one of the smaller planets in 
the solar system, all prove its comparative youthfulness. 
The very fact that the moon revolves around the earth, 
and is dependent upon it for the focal center of its 
orbital revolution, establishes beyond contradiction 
that the moon is far younger than the natural parent 
from whence it has drawn its proper sustenance; as 
this fact is proven in every instance of a similar char- 
acter in the whole universe. 

Let us go out and hold silent converse with any one 
of the shining orbs among the thousands of millions 
that constitute that portion of the sideral heavens 
which has come within the range of astronomical 
observation, and inquire if he, with all the twinkling 
host, were created from nothing, rather late in the 
afternoon of the fourth day, as described by Moses, at 
the beck of an imaginary infinite personal being who 



INTELLIGENCE. 79 

afterwards figured so extensively as the God of the 
Hebrews. Ask any one of these apparent twinkling- 
gems that aid in beautifying and adorning the brow 
of night, but which is in reality a vast sun, with a 
retinue of worlds revolving around him as a grand 
center, and who with his system is wheeling through 
the regions of space in an orbit of such vast dimen- 
sions as to. bewilder the mathematician in his boldest 
computations. Ask that star if he, with all the innu- 
merable company which constitute the incomprehen- 
sible framework, as well as the materialized moving 
machinery of the universe, if they were all spoken into 
existence as appendages to this little earth by this 
Hebrew God whom the Christians now worship as the 
maker of all things in the heavens and upon the earth. 

If we get any intelligence from the stars, some one 
must certainly apply to them for what is obtained; 
not one particle of knowledge concerning them has 
ever come to any living being but must have come 
from that source. Every one of these orbs will flatly 
contradict the Mosaic account of their production, and 
tell us in language too plain to be misunderstood that 
they have been rolling on in their ceaseless journeys 
untold millions of ages before Moses or his God was 
ever thought of by man or any other being attached 
to our earth. 

It is quite frequently remarked that the so-called 
Word of God does not claim to give intelligence 
to the world upon any scientific subject; hence it 
could not be supposed that it would enlighten the 
inquiring mind in relation to astronomical questions. 
We simply say in reply that the bible conveys just as 



80 THE GOSPEL OF NATUKE. 

nmch intelligence in relation to the creation of the 
earth, the sun and moon and other heavenly bodies, as 
it does upon any portion of nature's universal domain, 
which surely embraces all there can be found in the 
material and spiritual entirety of existence. If this 
revelation does not convey any intelligence upon any 
scientific or philosophical subject, we may very prop- 
erly inquire what kind of intelligence or knowledge it 
does convey to the world ? For, we aver, without any 
fear of contradiction, that there is no fact or principle 
in all the broad universal dominions that is not within 
the range of science and philosophy. No aggregation 
of atoms can be found without such existence is in 
perfect accordance with universal eternal law; and 
when you have found all the atomic particles, in their 
various forms, conditions and modifications, and all 
the varied laws and forces by which these conditions 
and modifications are governed, you have found all 
there is inside of nature's realms. 

Science and philosophy, as far as they extend, or as 
far as they are comprehended by men, are connected 
with these various modifications of atomic particles 
from the grosser to the most ethereal — from the 
coarser parts of the mineral kingdom to the finest 
spiritualized essences known to men, or that can exist 
in the spirit spheres. One reason why men do not 
attain to a scientific knowledge of all things in heaven 
and earth, or in the spiritual and material realms, is 
because their organs of sense and perception are too 
obtuse, and their time too limited, to obtain a knowl- 
edge of the finer essences. Men's scientific and philo- 
sophic researches cannot close up with their earthly 



INTELLIGENCE. 81 

career. It is not because science and philosophy do 
not embrace all there is to be learned in the material 
and spiritual worlds that learned men understand so 
little, but because they comprehend so little of the 
infinite extent of science and philosophy. 

If the bible does not claim to convey to men any of 
that kind of intelligence which may be found inside of 
the material or spiritual universe, and all intelligence 
is contained within these boundaries, then it really 
conveys no intelligence at all. 

It claims to have commenced with all other such like 
revelations, out in the supernatural, or outside the 
limits of nature or beyond the confines of the material 
and ethereal domain, and there it ends. It commenced 
in darkness and chaos, and will probably end in smoke, 
or something less substantial. It has brought strong 
delusion that its votaries and the worshipers at its 
shrine "might believe a lie, that they all might be 
damned," that they might all suffer the damnation of 
their ignorance, folly and superstition. The idea of 
the Hebrew God, like all the other gods that have ever 
been adored by men in their various conditions, 
together with all the instructions that Moses claimed 
to have received from that source, have had no higher 
origin than the intellects of the men or finite beings 
who have presented this kind of teaching. 

It becomes very clear that all kinds of revelations 
proceeding from a so-called supernatural realm, are 
mythical and delusive to the last extreme, because no 
such realm can by any possibility have an existence. 
Therefore, in all our researches after intelligence, it 
will be absolutely necessary that we should confine 
6 



82 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

ourselves within the limits of the natural universe, 
where real, substantial entities may be found passing 
through their varied evolutions, and where universal 
law regulates and modifies the movement of all things, 
from the least atom to the most ponderous globe. 

It is also clear that the universe of nature affords 
ample scope for the exercise of the loftiest intellects 
for interminable ages or cycles; and still the domain 
of intelligent thought shall not be explored, but newer 
wonders and newer beauties shall present themselves 
to the astonished beholder at every step in advance. 
Then why should not all these wanderers return to 
their Father's house, where the bread of life abounds, 
enough and to spare. 



OHAPTEE III. 

INTELLECT. 

Intellect is usually denominated that faculty or 
power existing within physical organisms which seems 
to be capable of grasping and comprehending intelli- 
gent ideas. This power seems to bear the same rela- 
tion to thoughts or intelligence as the physical system 
does to the food of which it partakes. 

The system is evidently composed of the molecules 
it has gathered from the sustenance which by certain 
processes within are elaborated and take their respective 
places in its different members as they are required. 
The intellect, then, must be composed and built up by 
those finer thought essences it gathers from the various 
forms of intelligence upon which it subsists, and which 
it may be able to digest or comprehend, and thus make 
a part of itself. The intellect must be as much supe- 
rior to the intelligent thought which affords nutriment 
as the physical body is superior to the food consumed 
and by which such body is sustained. Both are alike 
subject to change, or growth and development; both 
may evidently advance from a lower to a higher con- 
dition, and both may doubtless experience their infancy 
and proximate maturity. The intellect of the matured 
person seems quite a different affair from that of the 
child or mere youth; the one has surely unfolded to a 
higher status than the other, and if so, it must have 

(83) 



84 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

received into its organism the nutriment it required in 
order to produce this growth or development. 

There can be no other element in nature which can 
possibly afford nutrition for the intellectual organism 
except that intelligence which it receives in the form 
of thoughts. We are persuaded the human mind is 
entirely unable to conceive of any other method of 
intellectual unfoldment, except by furnishing this 
organization with the kind of sustenance to which we 
have already referred. It also follows that the intelli- 
gence which serves as nutriment, and which produces 
a healthy growth, must be of a genuine character — 
not degenerated by any taint of untruthfulness, or any 
quality which renders it unfit for the high purpose of 
building up and unfolding the intellect properly. No 
shams, guesses, or beliefs or undigested opinions of 
other persons, will supply the proper aliment for the 
growth or enlargement of a healthy intellectual organ- 
ism. 

If intellect is a real, absolute existence — a power 
within man or any other organized form of life possess- 
ing great activities — it must of necessity be supplied 
with real, absolute food, adapted to its wants, capacities 
and general conditions; for, any independent organism 
possessing real, absolute, positive power and activity, 
cannot continue its active exertions without being 
recuperated by the natural elements upon which it 
subsists, and the elements upon which it subsists must 
necessarily assimilate with itself. 

The physical system cannot pursue its activities and 
perform its proper functions unless it has a continual 
supply of food, from which it is furnished with those 



INTELLECT. 85 

powers that have been exhausted by its labors. It is 
also required that the elements should be suitable, or 
of a similar character, to those of which the system 
was originally constructed, that they may enter into 
and become a component part of itself, thus supplying 
its continuous wants. So the intellectual organism, 
which is a thousand times more active than the cum- 
brous physical, also needs to be the constant recipient 
of appropriate elements to supply the waste, as well 
as to aid in its growth and development. 

If intellects may grow and expand, then, there may 
have been a period when the most exalted one upon 
our planet of which we have any knowledge or can 
entertain any conception, may have been in a very 
feeble condition, nay, there may have been a time when 
all its powers which are now so pre-eminent were 
entirely latent or germinal. Again, the intellects can 
only grow and unfold by personal experiences. They 
must receive and appropriate the intelligence necessary 
to promote growth in their own individual capacity, 
and by virtue of powers of unfoldment existing within 
themselves; for, without such interior powers or capa- 
bilities of unfoldment, it is very obvious none could 
be produced. 

If such is the case, w r e may safely conclude that 
whatever thing is capable of passing through an expe- 
rience of any character, and is possessed of this won- 
derful element of development, must be endowed to 
that limited extent with an intellect or an individual 
soul which is therefore susceptible to growth and 
expansion. The individual soul or spirit in man or 
any other animal must be that most spiritualized 



86 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

power which is capable of entertaining a thought or 
grasping an idea; and this most interior essential 
thing can be no other than the intellect, so we may 
hereafter consider these terms very nearly synonymous. 

Then, if the expanded individual intellect or soul of 
the highly cultured human can possibly contain the 
intelligence of all beings below him, he can only be 
enabled to do so by having had an experience in all the 
various conditions there may be below his own. He 
must have passed through all those various states in 
order to partake of their nature and incorporate their 
intelligence into his own organism; and this can only 
be done by observation. If man knows all that is 
known by one of the lower forms of organized life, he 
must have had a similar experience, else the lower 
being has passed through that and derived a conse- 
quent intelligence which man never can attain until 
he passes through the same character of experiences. 

How can we claim to be advanced beyond the dog 
unless we have within our organisms all the dog may 
possess and still more, having passed through more 
changes and accumulated more intelligence or knowl- 
edge by our more varied observation in higher and still 
higher conditions? 

If man's experience builds up his intellect and 
assists in the attainment of knowledge, or that nutri- 
tion upon which it seems to subsist and grow, then the 
experience of the dog or other animal must perform 
the same office for them ; and it must be admitted that 
these animals possess intellects, else individually they 
could have no such thing as experience. If the lower 
animals are not in possession of an intellect which can 



INTELLECT. 87 

to a certain extent grasp thought or ideas, we may 
properly inquire what that peculiar thing in them may 
be which we educate? We shall very readily admit 
that when we educate the child it is the intellect which 
is improved or cultivated. Then, if we find some power 
in the animal which may be educated in a similar 
manner, it must be a power very similar to that of the 
child — an interior, essential, spiritual something, 
which must be an intellect, or what is usually termed 
a mind or soul, possessing powers exactly commensurate 
with its unfoldment, differing from that we find in the 
human in degree and not in kind. That in the animal 
is inferior or less developed, having passed through 
less changes; that in man is higher, having passed 
through more changes and consequent experiences, and 
attained to a broader unfoldment. Evidently, the 
reason why man has a greater intellect, or one endowed 
with more powers and faculties, is, because having 
passed through all the changes of condition below 
himself, he has therefore accumulated and holds within 
his own organism the combined experiences of all 
states of unfoldment below; hence, he is enabled to 
exercise his power and authority over the whole. 

If knowledge is power, then that which is capable 
of grasping, retaining and appropriating knowledge or 
intelligence must be still more powerful, so the real 
absolute power must inhere in the individual intellect; 
and this must be of precisely the same character, 
whether found in the human or in the lower animal 
who is capable of being educated, and who has had his 
experiences also. The difference can only be in the 



05 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

greater amount and variety of experiences under more 
favorable circumstances. 

If this reasoning is correct, there can be no organi- 
zation destitute of intellect in some sense of the word ; 
all must have this power, either active and positive or 
latent and negative, for if it is susceptible to progressive 
growth, where could it have commenced its career of 
progress except at the lowest extreme, if such point 
can be found, and where can it terminate except at the 
extreme of exaltation, if the mind can entertain such 
a, conception? 

It would be extremely difficult for us to conceive 
how we could amass to ourselves all the powers of all 
beings below ourselves unless we have had every 
opportunity to accumulate the requisite knowledge; 
and we may very properly ask how we could have 
acquired the knowledge which has been obtained by 
the experience of the lower organized beings unless we 
have passed through the self same conditions, and 
unless we incorporate into our intellectual organisms 
that knowledge and intelligence which comes from 
such experiences, our education is incomplete. We 
cannot go forward in a proper manner if we do not 
carry with us all that is below; and some time in our 
history, in order to complete our education, we must 
pass through and learn all that is known to all other 
beings. 

We shall find, then, by a careful analysis of this 
matter, that all beings are endowed with intellects, and 
by virtue of this endowment they are passing through 
experiences which are as valuable to them as ours can 
be to us, because every being is preparing to pass on, 



INTELLECT. 89 

the same as ourselves, to a higher status. "We should 
by no means have been prepared to take up our tem- 
porary abode in the organisms of the Anglo-Saxon had 
we not passed through such as are below, any more 
than we can be prepared for the condition in advance, 
unless we had passed through our varied experiences 
in this. "We must have come up through all the 
various phases of living existence below this, step by 
step, preparing in the one for the next just in advance; 
and that is the very thing we are doing here — just 
preparing by the experimental knowledge we gain to 
take another step beyond. TTe can take but one step 
forward at a time. We have been taking those steps 
slowly, yet nevertheless surely, during all past eterni- 
ties, and shall continue to take them through all those 
in the future; each one preparing and giving us power 
to take the one in advance. 

If we find upon examination that we could not have 
reached our present condition without coming up the 
ladder step by step, and that we now are in possession 
of an intellect, it would be very unphilosophical for 
us to say that a good while ago, when in a lower con- 
dition, and when we had taken less steps, we had no 
such power at all ; because, in that case, we should be 
compelled to acknowledge that some time in our his- 
tory an intellect must have been given us, developed 
to the condition in which we were when it was pre- 
sented, and that it must have been either manufactured 
from raw material or produced from nothing. Then 
the only rational conclusion we can adopt is that this 
power within every organized being must have had 
not only an existence commensurate with the being 



90 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

itself, but must have been prepared to take possession 
of that organization by unfolding in the gradations 
below, and that it must have existed without begin- 
ning. Although an intellect may not manifest itself 
to any great extent in the lower inorganic and organic 
forms of existence, yet all must be endowed with such; 
and we are compelled to conclude that all forms that 
contain within them the soul essence and intelligence, 
also contain intellect either in an active or latent con- 
dition. 

We cannot now possess the abilities of a spiritual 
being who has been accumulating intelligence for 
unnumbered ages in the higher realms and under more 
favorable conditions than we ever experienced; yet we 
are superior to those who have had less experience than 
ourselves, and that under less favorable circumstances. 
We ascertain that the mental organism of a human 
being, in order to be such, must be constituted and 
endowed with organs, else how could it be an organi- 
zation. If human beings were destitute of the several 
organs which compose these mental structures, they 
certainly could not act in all their varied capacities. 
No person can succeed in any vocation unless he 
possesses the requisite organs, and unless they are 
developed to a certain extent. We can find no good 
mechanics unless they are endowed with constructive- 
ness; devoid of combativeness, no person could be 
induced to fight; and destitute of the group of affec- 
tional organs, those who are now parents could not be 
induced to propagate and rear up their young with all 
the care and solicitude they manifest toward them. It 
is well understood that all this wondrous variety of 



INTELLECT. 91 

human character and qualities depends upon the almost 
infinite variety of organic conformations and endow- 
ments. 

Were it not for these faculties, men could certainly 
have but a limited experience and knowledge, because 
they could not exercise the functions of these several 
faculties through which the experience and knowledge 
are conveyed to the intellect. If there had been no 
such organs as time and tune, music could not have 
been cultivated, and man would have possessed no 
knowledge of any combination of harmonious sounds. 
Those persons who are destitute to a great extent of 
these powers, or in whom they are feebly developed, 
have very little knowledge of or enjoyment in the best 
musical performances. 

The facts concerning man's phrenological organiza- 
tion are quite well understood at the present time by 
all cultivated minds; and we only present the few in 
this connection to show their ciose relation to the 
intellect, and that this ruling monarch in man's higher 
nature could not be successfully unfolded without these 
various powers and faculties. As we shah very plainly 
discover, the intellect is exclusively dependent upon 
the organ of amativeness for all experience and knowl- 
edge it may obtain concerning love. Almost all per- 
sons who have arrived at a mature age have had some 
little experience of this character; and we think they 
will readily admit that they would have had no idea 
whatever of the matter had they not obtained their 
knowledge by actual experiment. The enthusiastic 
young person who has but recently been introduced to 
a knowledge of this passion, by forming an early 



92 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

attachment, will boldly declare that language is entirely 
incompetent to express or convey any adequate knowl- 
edge of their experience; and they are doubtless very 
correct. The sculptor or painter will find it impos- 
sible to convey in any language the varied processes, 
and the powers within him, by which he is enabled to 
attain to his masterly skill in the art he pursues. Yet 
both must have organs well adapted to their pursuits, 
or they could have no successful experience, neither 
could they attain the required skill. 

In addition to all these various organs, man is in 
possession of the five senses, whose office it is to convey 
that intelligence which comes through these several 
avenues; and he could certainly have no experimental 
knowledge of that which comes to him through these 
channels if he was devoid of these several sensuous 
organs. 

There can be no descriptive language that is able to 
convey an intelligent idea concerning the peculiar taste 
of the various fruits, such as the apple, the peach, 
pear or plum, or to give any adequate description of 
the aroma of the different flowers. In order to obtain 
any intelligence of this character, we must possess the 
organic machinery which will convey it to the intellect 
within. This, and this alone, will subserve that high 
purpose. But when both parties possess the gustatory 
and olfactory organs, they may talk intelligently con- 
cerning these several tastes and smells, and each will 
understand the other. 

Blind Tom, although in other respects almost an 
idiot, must possess the nicest possible perception con- 
cerning harmonious sounds. The peculiar organs 



INTELLECT. 93 

necessary to this result seem to have been developed 
in a wonderful manner, at the expense of nearly all the 
rest. Mature, by instructing him in her silent lan- 
guage, has made a prodigy of him as regards music, 
while she seems to have been extremely parsimonious 
in every other particular. 

Nature has a silent language of her own that has 
never been confounded at the upbuilding of any earthly 
Babel, by which she conveys to the intellect unnum- 
bered truths, of immense value to all who receive them. 
The avenues of communication between the broad 
fields of the natural universe and the intellect, consist 
in the more external sensient powers, together with the 
various phrenological organs which seem to find their 
residence in the brain. These are the natural channels 
of communication between the outer world and the 
innermost ruling monarch that sits upon the throne 
of his power, and which with all these assistants con- 
stitute man a reasoning being. It is through these 
that an intercourse is opened up, and he is enabled to 
hold communion with the grand panorama by which 
he is surrounded. It is through these that he gathers 
from the open volume of nature all the actual knowl- 
edge with which his intellect is endowed. There can 
be no spoken language, neither any written book, 
which can convey to him any real intelligence, unless 
he has received already through these channels of com- 
munication a stock of ideas that will enable him to 
appreciate the verbal or book intelligence, and establish 
its truth in his own mentality. 

It is a common saying, as well as a very truthful 
one, with many persons, that "what they know they 



94 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

know as well as the priest." The untutored Indian is 
in possession of a large fund of real knowledge, which 
has come to his intellect through the various avenues 
in his organism. He knows as well the peculiar taste 
of the venison, the antelope, the buffalo, and of all the 
different kinds of food of which he partakes, as the 
most polished epicure in civilized life. His olfactories 
are quite as acute, and he comprehends as well the 
peculiar aroma arising from the flowers of his native 
forests or prairies, as the accomplished perfumer who 
caters for the gratification of the most fastidious taste 
of the refined people who inhale their odors in the 
salons of fashion. Does not his piercing glance extend 
out and take in all the landscape? And does he not 
behold the marked outlines of the mountain cliff, the 
rushing torrent or placid river, and the pleasing variety 
of hill and dale, the same as his more civilized neigh- 
bor, although they may not convey to his intellect the 
same exalted ideas of grandeur and magnificence? Yet 
his well trained eye may trace the footsteps of an 
enemy, or of the game he pursues, where the eye of 
civilization would behold nothing. He loves and he 
hates, he constructs and he destroys, and he acts in all 
his varied capacities by precisely the same interior 
energies as his white brother; and the knowledge con- 
veyed to his intellect through these channels, though 
it may be more limited, nevertheless is more real and 
substantial — what he has acquired comes direct from 
the great volume. He has less of shams, deceptions 
and vain show, because he has less of that education 
which that volume does not contain. We find, then, 
the intellectual machinery which constitutes the untu- 



INTELLECT. 95 

tored son of the forest an intelligent being, to be 
identical with that contained in the more advanced or 
civilized races of men. The only difference is, in the 
one case it is not used so extensively as in the other. 

This grand piece of mental machinery, which is 
capable of digesting and appropriating intelligent 
thoughts to its own especial use, evidently comprises 
very many different powers or organs in its complex 
arrangement, harmoniously joined together, all acting 
in concert with themselves and with the universe of 
nature, of which they are a part. 

We can but wonder how man came in possession of 
such an intricate intellectual organization, which he 
is capable of wielding with such power and effect in 
the varied departments of life. By what secret pro- 
cesses has he been endowed with these remarkable 
faculties attached to his selfhood which enable him to 
work out such marvelous results? There must in the 
great laboratory of nature be some modus operandi, 
some divine method, by which, or in accord with 
which, this mighty achievement has been wrought out 
and man has been furnished with these rare powers 
that give him such elevated rank in the scale of being. 

It cannot be rationally supposed that nature has 
accomplished this grandest and most intricate portion 
of all her workmanship at a single blow of the mighty 
hammer, or that the Anglo-Saxon could have jumped 
into possession of his superior intellectual abilities 
independent of all the races of men below himself; 
for somehow in this age of progress, when so many 
men are beginning to think independently, the idea 
of evolution will obtrude itself upon the mind, and 



96 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

suggest that these lower races, and perhaps the whole 
animal economy, might have each one afforded resting 
places in the unceasing journey of unfoldment; that 
possibly we might have gathered these faculties we 
now possess, and which shine out so brilliantly in some 
minds, one by one by the wayside where conditions 
were favorable for their bursting forth, thus adding 
another member to the body politic. 

Our interior selfhood or personal intellect must be 
eternally existent — a part and parcel of nature itself 
— else it must have been produced by some superior 
power at some particular time; thus having a begin- 
ning, it has no guaranty of an eternal existence in the 
future, because only a fragment of time is allotted to 
its share in any event. This selfhood being a part 
and parcel of nature, must necessarily enter into inti- 
mate relations with any and every other portion during 
the varied stages of its progressive evolutions, and 
hence we find ourselves so closely allied to the entire 
animal economy in point of mental and physical 
acquirements, as we shall endeavor to set forth in these 
pages. 

All the lower animals possess the power of seeing, 
hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling, and all possess 
a portion of the interior organs in accordance with 
their varied conditions of unfoldment. It is doubtless 
quite as impossible to find any of these powers of 
sense or perception without the intellect, as it would 
be to find what is termed an intellect devoid of such 
powers. They seem to be mutually dependent upon 
each other, and can by no possibility exist separate any 
more than the head can perform its functions without 



INTELLECT. 97 

the body, or the body without the head. The intellect 
cannot be furnished with its appropriate nutriment 
except by use of these avenues. The intelligence can- 
not be conveyed and appropriated in any other manner. 
No being can love or hate destitute of those powers. 
No one can realize and appreciate any sound, sight, 
taste, smell or feeling, devoid of the physical arrange- 
ment through which these several sensations are con- 
veyed to the inner consciousness or intellect, and surely 
no being can appreciate any of these sensations desti- 
tute of the inner perception; so, where the exterior 
senses are developed, they must be accompanied by 
inner faculties to an extent sufficient to make the outer 
of any service. In short, that being who sees, hears, 
tastes, smells or feels, must know the fact by virtue of 
intellectual capabilities, or else he cannot by any pos- 
sibility experience any such sensations. Again, no 
organ of sense or perception can be used for other than 
the legitimate purpose for which it was designed and 
to which it is applied. Hence, when these may be 
found they must be accompanied by the other portions 
of the mental machinery, and as a sequence we must 
find an intellect either in an active or a latent condition. 
If this reasoning is correct, and we are fully per- 
suaded it cannot be controverted, then we may expect 
to find intellects even below the uncultivated savage, 
because we find both the sensuous and perceptive 
organs in very many of the forms of animated nature. 
We may pass below all the ape family, and go down to 
our favorite animal, the dog, and ascertain what we 
find in him. We choose him for our illustration 
because he is so universally known. He has, in the 
7 



98 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

first place, the five senses, and that of smell in a very- 
high state of development; and, as we have said, these 
several organs or senses can only be used to convey to 
a higher power within that intelligence which passes 
upon these avenues. He smells the track of the game 
or his master, and through this avenue the intelligence 
passes to the intellect precisely the same as in the 
Indian, only the dog in this respect is the more sensi- 
tive of the two. He sees his master or friend, and 
rushes to their sides with expressions of enthusiastic 
delight. He tastes his food, and thus discriminates in 
regard to what is suited to his appetites and what is 
not. He hears the sound of the voice, and acts in 
obedience to his master's will. He feels pain when 
inflicted upon him as sensibly as any other being, and 
gives full expression to any misery he endures. The 
dog certainly uses these sensuous powers precisely in 
the same manner as those beings who are in advance 
of him in point of development. They serve to carry 
intelligence to the ruling power within him the same 
as they do in man ; and that ruling power must be the 
intellect or the spirit individuality. 

But this animal has still higher endowments; he has 
faculties of a nobler character, that enable him to enter 
into experiences superior to those obtained through 
the five senses. If we should look over the catalogue 
of phrenological organs, we might be somewhat puzzled 
to select those he does not possess in a partially devel- 
oped condition, perhaps even more so than to designate 
those which he clearly exhibits in a state of activity. 
He certainly possesses amativeness, love of offspring, 
inhabitiveness, combativeness and destructiveness, ali- 



INTELLECT. 99 

mentiveness, and a host of others, all in successful 
operation. And do not these faculties or powers per- 
form their legitimate offices in his organization the 
same as in the human being? If not, why do we find 
them there, and what can be their uses? They are 
evidently placed there for precisely the same purposes 
that they are in the human — to convey to his intellect 
that intelligence and those experiences required to 
build up and unfold it in his peculiar condition, and 
prepare it to take another step in advance. 

If, then, we find in these lower animal organizations 
most of the working machinery that comprises what 
is termed an intellectual being, we may readily dis- 
cover that, as the progressive element or principle is 
as much attached to them as to any other beings, they 
may also unfold or grow into higher intellectual indi- 
vidualities, or they may accumulate in that particular 
state or phase of existence — the power of going for- 
ward into one that is higher. 

If we find in the dog or other animal organism an 
array of powers and faculties such as are found in the 
human, entirely sufficient to constitute him an indi- 
vidualized intellectual being, and we do not permit 
them to unfold into more exalted conditions by pro- 
gressive development, what shall we do with such 
individualities? An individuality is really something, 
and those we are contemplating are very complex 
somethings. How, then, shall we dispose of them and 
change them into nothings? They really exist within 
the universe of nature; how can we contrive to get 
them outside, or in what dark recess can they be 



100 THE GOSPEL OF NATUEE. 

hidden, that they shall never more appear and assert 
their rights to a continued existence and unfoldment? 

It would surely be as difficult to reduce the unfolded 
organs of an individualized being possessed of an 
intellect to nothing, however low they might be in the 
scale of existence, as to produce such a being from 
nothing; and no person with a single grain of common 
intelligence can suppose that there is any power capable 
of accomplishing either of these results. Then, as we 
must in some manner dispose of the intellects that are 
less unfolded than the human, the only thing we can 
do is to allow them to go forward in this evolutionary 
process the same as all things else in nature. 

It would certainly be very much easier to produce a 
highly cultivated intellect, adapted to our most exalted 
ideal of a man or woman, from that which we really 
find to be occupying the organism of this or some 
other animal, than it would to manufacture one from 
nothing, or even from the raw material. Men and 
women evidently possess intellects, which seem to be 
very complicated in their nature; and they must have 
been the result of processes equally complex in their 
character. We cannot suppose by any means that this 
wonderful piece of machinery, which is capable of 
grasping intricate subjects, discriminating between the 
true and the false, and adjudicating upon the most 
difficult matters, could itself have been produced in a 
moment or a day from nothing. 

If we roam over the broad fields of the material and 
spiritual realms, we shall find everywhere that the 
grandest achievements have required the greatest 
amount of time in their production, and that they are 



INTELLECT. 101 

the most enduring when culminated. And where 
shall we find in all the wide domain that man has yet 
surveyed, by all the powers which he can bring to 
bear, anything so grand in its varied characteristics 
and sublime in its appointments as the human intellect. 
It seems to be the culmination of all the efforts that 
universal nature has ever put forth — her triumphal 
achievement; the consummation of her boldest and 
most exalted thought. 

The complex elaboration of all there is below it in 
magnificence and importance, and nothing less than 
the eternities of the past, would have been sufficient 
for its production ; and nothing short of those in the 
future will afford it ample scope for its activities. The 
intellect, then, is a part and parcel of the universe in 
which it is found. In some form it must have existed, 
without any beginning, during all the changes and 
modifications which have transpired; and in some 
form it must exist, without any termination, during 
all the cycles that shall roll on in their ceaseless rounds. 

Materialized nature, in all her multitudinous forms 
of beauty and excellence, is grand and glorious beyond 
conception ; but how much more so is that mysterious 
power in the human organism which can silently scan 
and appreciate, as well as appropriate to itself, so much 
of this infinitude of excellence and grandeur. 

Science, in all her varied departments, is complex 
and intricate; but how much more complex the human 
intellect, which can grasp and handle the difficult 
principles of science and philosophy, and find amuse- 
ment from them, as the child is amused with a toy! 
How eternally varied and complex, then, must have 



102 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

been the character of those processes by which the 
human intellect has been brought to its unfolded con- 
dition, as we behold it exhibited in man. Could this 
crowning gem among all nature's grand productions 
have been hidden during all the past eternal cycles in 
some dark cave, and lain in the embrace of inactive 
repose? or must it necessarily have been exercising its 
activity in all the multitudinous conditions below or 
interior to itself, in order to exhibit its present superior 
powers? 

We are apprehensive that the thinking mind, upon 
a careful analysis of this matter, will necessarily arrive 
at this only conclusion — that the human soul or intel- 
lect must have had an eternal existence, and that it 
has exercised its activities in every possible circle or 
sphere below itself, in order to accumulate all those 
elements and powers which enable it to act in this 
superior capacity. and perform the achievements of 
highly endowed intellectual men and women. 

Then it follows that if our soul powers have been in 
all those varied conditions, in order to gain their 
present unfoldment all organized beings below us 
must possess those powers which are passing through 
to the conditions we have attained. If we have satis- 
factorily proven that some lower animals have in their 
possession the working machinery which can belong 
only to soul entities, and that they, too, must be 
endowed with this interior power unfolded to their 
condition, then this fatal barrier which has been 
erected in the minds of our predecessors, closing effect- 
ually the door to the continued advancement of the 
lower spiritual beings, is entirely destroyed. And 



INTELLECT. 103 

when this barrier is taken down, and the door thrown 
open as regards the ape or the dog, where shall it 
again be erected? Where shall we draw a line of 
demarkation, and say this animal organization has in 
his possession the working powers of an intellect, in a 
certain state of unfold ment, but the one just below has 
not? If we discover the great fact, and we think we 
most certainly shall, that a very large portion of that 
which constitutes an absolute human soul really exists 
in some forms below man, then we shall be compelled 
to admit that such souls in a certain state of unfold- 
ment may exist in all forms and organizations. Shall 
we admit that matter, and the multitudinous laws by 
which it is governed in all its various modifications, 
are eternal, and that human intellects had a commence- 
ment? We cannot for a moment entertain such an 
idea; the soul essence must be quite as enduring as 
grosser material substance, and certainly less liable to 
dissolution. Then, if matter has existed eternally, the 
soul essence must have borne it company during the 
whole of its varied changes; and perhaps we may 
ascertain the soul essence, or the spirit entity, may be 
the very thing which has had this eternal existence, 
and that certain conditions of this self same soul 
essence, or these spirit entities, may constitute what 
we term gross, as well as refined, matter. We have 
learned in a previous chapter that the spirit entity was 
the supposed indivisible atomic particle; that if it had 
an eternal existence it could be nothing else; and that 
what was not composed of atomic particles was nothing. 
Hence, as gross matter is all composed of such particles, 
in whatever form or state we find it, we are compelled 



104 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

to admit that it is but a mass of spirit entities, or 
intellectual germs, lying in repose or being used for 
the benefit of others who are advancing through their 
higher, ever changing forms of existence. 

Then we arrive at the grand conclusion that every 
indivisible particle is an entity, a soul germ or a latent 
intellect — all equally susceptible of advancement and 
growth; but the one cannot pass through the neces- 
sary experiences that may ultimate in its growth and 
maturity only at the expense of the others whom it 
may control. The single I Am cannot possibly con- 
trol the particles that enter into and form the most 
infinitesimal animalcule unless those particles take 
their respective places in this minute organization and 
become subject to his will. Thus we see this entity 
that ruled over this diminutive creature could not have 
had this experience unless all the other entities had 
been his subjects, and moved in obedience to his com- 
mands; he occupied his conspicuous position at their 
expense. 

It may appear to some minds a very small matter 
to either think or write concerning a living organism 
that would require to be multiplied by a million in 
order to be appreciable to the vision of man. But we 
can assure them that this little animal is one link in 
the universal chain, and without this link the grand 
chain would be broken; and, further, that we are 
indebted to these links or steps in the ladder of pro- 
gression for the more elevated positions we occupy 
to-day, as well as for those still more exalted which we 
aspire to occupy in the ages of the future. The grand 
reason why we think so little of the infinitesimally 



INTELLECT. 105 

small, is because our visions and perceptions are too 
gross and unrefined to behold their importance. When 
men understand that the intellects or soul entities of 
all forms and organizations, even to the most minute, 
are plodding along in their journey upon the very 
highway which their own have traveled, and upon 
which others are now traveling, who will at some time 
far outshine them in excellence and attainments, they 
may give more of their attention to this portion of the 
natural universe, and learn something of the import- 
ance of the infinitesimal realms. For in them exists 
a portion of their own experience and history; and 
from those conditions has come a part of the intelli- 
gence of the most intellectual personality who. may be 
found either upon the earth or in the celestial spheres. 
We shall assuredly conclude, then, that intellect 
must be an eternal existence, and that if we trace it to 
its source or its latent, germinal abiding place, we shall 
find it in the soul essence of all things, and that the 
soul essence is the indivisible particle, or the smallest 
point of material substance — that which is sublimated 
to the last extremity. After descending down to this 
point we may fancy we have found a beginning; but 
such is by no means the case, for no beginning has 
ever been revealed to the most ardent explorer into the 
depths of nature's vast arcanum. The beginning or 
the commencement of the operations of nature has 
ever been a sort of philosopher's stone, that has eluded 
the grasp of human intellect in its most inspired 
moods, simply because no beginning has had an exist- 
ence. It is extremely difficult in our explorations to 
find that which never was, that which was by no means 



106 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

eternal, and which there was no conceivable power to 
produce. For if there was a beginning to all things, 
then nothing could have existed previous to that begin- 
ning; and there would have been just nothing to have 
made the commencement. However many nothings 
we might have accumulated, we should have had 
exactly nothing as the final result. 

This idea of the necessity of a beginning has hung 
like an obscure pall over the minds of men during all 
the ages of the dark past; and is still overclouding the 
brightest intellects of the present day. We have heard 
intelligent men remark that no matter at what period 
Grod created the heavens and the earth, it must have 
been in accordance with the divine record of this fact 
in the beginning. But could it have been in the 
beginning, when there was a personal intelligent being 
so far ultimated that he had ability to construct a 
world, together with all the host of heavenly bodies? 
Could this being have jumped into his infinite knowl- 
edge at a single bound just previous to this creation, 
or did he exist from all eternity? In either case it 
could not have been the beginning, when, according to 
Moses, the Hebrew God created the world, because He 
must have existed previous to the time of that creation. 

The man who is successful in eradicating from the 
public mind this long cherished idea of a beginning to 
all terrestrial and celestial things, and thus provides 
room in the understanding for the illuminating rays 
of a diviner light, will doubtless be the recipient of 
the grateful memories of a disenthralled people. For 
this single step in advance would place their feet in 
the highway that leads to the broader fields of 



INTELLECT. 107 

■universal truth. May the happy day soon arrive when 
the civilized world shall recognize the grand truth that 
all nature has existed, and has been in active opera- 
tion, from all the inconceivable eternities in the past, 
and will so continue through the unending cycles in 
the future. 

Men have seemed almost to entertain the idea that 
the unbounded universe sprang into existence for the 
accommodation of themselves and perhaps a few of 
their brethren belonging to their particular church or 
persuasion, and that it will soon cease its operations 
after they and their friends are provided with all they 
require for their happiness. They have scarcely con- 
ceived the idea that unnumbered billions of ages in 
the past there was just as good a time as to-day for 
the successful and active operation of all the work- 
ing machinery of a grand universe, and that these 
varied activities must have been transpiring through 
all those eternal cycles. When the human mind shall 
become so expanded as to accept such more enlarged 
and rational views concerning those sublime depart- 
ments of nature alluded to in the preceding pages, 
how trivial and contemptible will appear the insig- 
nificant dogmatic teachings of the various churches! 
How unsatisfying all their ridiculous beliefs, and how 
worse than useless their idle ceremonials and puerile 
formalities! All these have originated within a few 
short years or centuries at most, and all will pass away, 
scarcely leaving a footprint upon the ever changing 
sands of time. And when we recognize the astounding 
fact that we have had a personal existence for untold 
millions of ages before these silly faiths and incon- 



108 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

gruous teachings were instituted, and that we shall 
continue in the accumulation of experiences during 
lengthened cycles after they have passed away, the 
native dignity of humanity rises conspicuously to our 
view. We involuntarily exclaim: 'Tis glorious, past 
all conception, to enjoy a conscious life, and to find 
ourselves thus far upon our continuous progressive 
pathway, which can have no termination — an exist- 
ence which shall finally open into the broad, expansive 
fields of universal knowledge and delight. 

In our cursory examination of this subject, we seem 
to arrive at some important conclusions which are 
quite irresistible: First, The human intellect must 
have existed eternally, and hence could not have been 
formed from nothing. Second, It must have pro- 
gressed from the lowest possible condition, and it may 
go onward to the most exalted state which can possibly 
be occupied by an individualized being. Third, It 
may have existed either separately or in conjunction 
with any of the material forms or organizations below 
man, always rinding such dwelling place according 
with its condition of unfoldment. Fourth, It is the 
supreme ruling power, or the inmost soul essence of 
that form or organism in which it finds a temporary 
dwelling place. Fifth, Being susceptible to pro- 
gressive growth, it must receive appropriate nutriment, 
together with varied experiences, during all the condi- 
tions it may pass through, making some advancement 
at each step it has taken. Sixth, The only proper 
nourishment that can be received by this interior soul 
essence must come from an experimental knowledge, 
or a comprehending of that intelligence which is below 



INTELLECT. 109 

itself. Hence, like the physical organism, it feeds 
upon that which is inferior to itself. It expands by 
absorbing intelligence, as the physical form expands 
by absorbing its appropriate food. 

We are led to think that the ordinary mind, by 
reasoning from these several self-evident propositions, 
may form a tolerably clear estimate of the human 
intellect, or that ruling monarch which seems to occupy 
the imperial throne of the spiritual being, and which 
must have passed through all possible conditions 
below itself in order to arrive at its present dignity 
and honor, and which is now preparing for a still 
higher and more dignified phase of conscious existence. 
If our first proposition is correct, the intellect cannot 
be indebted to any superior power for its existence; 
hence no such power can claim to exercise any con- 
tinuous absolute authority over those below itself. 

The human mentality having come up through all 
these lengthy and complicated processes, and being by 
virtue of these varied experiences supereminently 
above all other beings upon the earth, must necessarily 
be engaged in the performance of duties comparatively 
higher in importance. It must act in its legitimate 
sphere in accordance with its capacity; and thus this 
power appears to establish a sort of imperial govern- 
ment over the individual kingdoms which by their less 
advanced condition are subject to control. However, 
the only possible difference there can be in all the 
various intellects is that of experience and unfoldment, 
so that all authorities exerted by one over the other 
must be exceedingly temporary. The individualized 
living entity who now occupies a latent quiescent con- 



110 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. - 

dition out in the vast elemental ocean of space, or lies 
deeply imprisoned in the solid granite, widely differs 
from the one who shines out and blazes in the celestial 
spheres, and who is competent to take the supervision 
of a solar system and manage the whole institution 
with the required wisdom and discretion. The latter 
has passed through all the experiences, and acquired 
the knowledge which renders him capable of filling his 
exalted vocation, while the former only waits his turn 
to gather a similar accumulation of wisdom and power 
by passing through similar processes, or by an occu- 
pancy of all the various organisms found upon the 
great highway between the lower and the higher, 
aggregating something to himself at every step he 
takes upon the great ladder of universal progress, or 
at every temporary sojourn he makes in this inter- 
minable journey of existence. 

Then there is really nothing in the wide universe 
but that which is capable of being ultimated; nothing 
but what is quite competent to rise to higher condi- 
tions, and still higher through all the gradations of the 
ascending scale. That which serves as our food to-day 
has fed on something below itself in order that it 
might become suitable for us. It takes one step by 
being eaten; and thus it ever travels onward. The 
particle which enters into the organic structure of the 
human eye to-day may become so improved and spirit- 
ualized by its existence there, and by the active per- 
formance of its duties in that position, as to become a 
portion of that which is the next step in advance; and 
thus it may go onward until it occupies the highest 
throne in a spiritual organism. The progressive 



INTELLECT. Ill 

element, in order to pervade so universally all things 
in nature, must exist in and pervade the indivisible 
atomic particle from which all visible and invisible 
objects in nature are constructed, or of which every 
inorganic and organic form is composed. Then, if we 
follow progressive unfoldment to its source, or fountain 
head, we shall find that source in the very soul essence 
of all things where we may surely expect to find the 
origin of all other forces, properties or qualities 
attached to particled substance, and which seem so 
generally diffused through nature's wide domain. 
Hence the continual changes that are unremittingly 
taking place in this vast workshop, from the lowest to 
the highest, because this leaven of progression pervades 
the minutest particle of which all things are composed. 
"Were it not for this element of activity we call pro- 
gression or unfoldment, all things would remain in a 
quiescent or static condition to all eternity. No bud 
would form and expand, no leaf would put forth, and 
no flower would open its petals to drink in the fresh- 
ness of the morning light, or exhale its odors to gratify 
and cheer the organs of sense. Thus we learn that 
this progressive element ever has been, and ever will 
be, attached to all conditions of intellect, whether in 
the germinal essence or in its more advanced develop- 
ment; and the human mind is unable to conceive of 
one so exalted as to be superior to this inherent 
element of progression, or one so low as to be beneath 
its all-pervading influence. It becomes evident, now, 
that during all this lengthy progressive experience the 
intellect must be precisely adapted to the condition in 
which it is found; that its experiences below have 



112 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

rendered it competent to subserve its purposes wher- 
ever it temporarily exists. 

We think a critical examination will teach us that 
instinct, as applied to the animal race, is a misnomer, 
and does not specially belong to them ; and that the 
power in them which we have been pleased to term 
instinct should really be denominated intellect, less 
developed, or in that state of unfoldment adapted to 
their particular wants. The various birds build or 
construct their nests suited to their several circum- 
stances; and those nests admirably subserve their 
purposes, and enable them to rear their young with 
comparative ease and comfort. The bee manifests 
remarkable constructive skill in the building of its 
curiously contrived cells, which seem to be precisely 
adapted to its wants, not only as a temporary residence 
for its young, but as a suitable storehouse for its food. 
The ants labor in a social capacity with great industry 
in building a residence suited to the wants of their 
community, and which subserves their highest purpose. 
Man, in his various conditions of civilization, can do 
no more; he can only construct a residence suited to 
his highest wants, and he can only construct one in 
accordance with his ability or acquirements. 

AVhy, then, should we make this marked distinction 
between man and the lower animal, and say that man 
is endowed with an intellect, while the bird, the bee 
and ant only possess an instinct? All have manifested 
the operations of the organ of constructiveuess; and 
all have furnished themselves with dwelling places in 
accordance with their several wants and requirements 
— the one just as much as the other — and each one 



INTELLECT. 113 

has accomplished that which would be extremely diffi- 
cult, if not quite impossible, for the other to perform. 
Why, then, should it be said that this organ of con- 
struetiveness, which has enabled the man to erect his 
dwelling, is attached to an intellect, while the same 
organ that subserves the self-same purpose in the 
inferior animal is only attached to an undefined some- 
thing they call an instinct? This organ has certainly 
carried out its legitimate design as faithfully and 
properly in the ant, the bee or beaver, and has adapted 
itself to their several conditions, and proved as success- 
ful in accomplishing its purposes in those conditions 
as it does in man. Why, theu, should this organ 
change its allegiance when it comes up to man, and 
then enter the service of a ruling monarch it never 
knew in all its previous experiences? We must give 
an intelligent answer to this query, or else acknowledge 
the fact that constructiveness, as well as all other 
organs, in whatever organism they have manifested 
themselves, or wherever they may have found a tem- 
porary dwelling place, were always attached to and 
under the control of this ruling power called intellect. 
This is assuredly the only philosophical solution of 
this difficult problem, and hence we shall be driven to 
the conclusion that wherever any of the organs are 
found, there intellect exists also; and, as a sequence, 
all the animal races must be endowed with such an 
interior soul power adapted to their several conditions. 
Each one possesses an intellect, which is an eternal 
soul entity, and one capable of unfold men t to the 
furthest possible extent. Then it may be said, with 
great propriety, that each animal organization is pos- 
8 



114 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

sessed of a living spirit, which takes its departure 
coeval with the life of the material organism. But as 
the inferior animal forms are not the culmination of 
material or earthly organisms, the intellect or soul 
entity exists in one form preparatory to its entrance 
into the one higher, as we have already stated. 

It by no means follows that the intellectual or spirit 
entity existing in these various forms is obliged to 
pass directly from one material body to another, one 
grade higher, because spirits in all the various condi- 
tions are abundantly capable of existing separate and 
distinct from gross material organizations. Thus we 
perceive very clearly such spirit entities may remain 
in their appropriate spiritual kingdoms until another 
material body is prepared for them, in which they may 
obtain and pass through another life of more advanced 
experiences; and thus onward until they have passed 
the culmination of all gross materialized forms, and 
commenced their new career of a higher, more spirit- 
ualized existence. 

The intellect, or interior selfhood, cannot be begotten 
by parents; no reproductive power can bring it into 
existence, because it was from all eternity. It is quite 
as old as the parent; has existed independently of the 
parent, and consequently it cannot be reproduced by 
either physical or other means. Parents may repro- 
duce an image or likeness of themselves physically, 
and in all the various forms of organized life; they 
may prepare an organism of the same character as their 
own for the reception of this intellectual soul entity; 
but the physical animal or man is perfectly powerless 
as regards the production of the intellect. They can 



INTELLECT. 115 

only bring forth physical beings. The soul entity 
which enters into and takes possession of this new 
organization must have been fitted for this official 
position by passing through all the conditions before 
having performed its required duties in all these 
various situations; it comes up preparer] to enter into 
this new relationship and assume the duties and 
responsibilities that may occur in this new field of 
intellectual or soul experience. 

Can we suppose, by any process of reasoning, that 
the combativeness, the destructiveness, and the mirth- 
fulness or playfulness, with all the other active organs 
we see exhibited in the kitten of three months old, 
have been manufactured from the raw material in that 
short space of time especially for this little animal by 
two parent cats? Or can we suppose that all the 
various powers which have been exhibited in the cat 
in such a remarkable manner will go out of existence 
when the physical organization ceases to live? AVe 
cannot philosophically conclude that one particle of 
the physical organism of the cat is lost, only that it 
changes its form and condition; how then can we think 
for a moment that all the spiritual activities which 
were of a thousand fold more value than the physical, 
should have been confined to that particular animal 
alone, and perished forever at its death? The cat 
evidently possessed and exhibited not only the organs 
above named, but still more, as amativeness, philopro- 
genitiveness, secretiveness, inhabitiveness, cautiousness, 
and many others — and all these subserved her purpose 
during her existence here upon the earth; and it must 
be admitted that those organs or powers in this animal 



116 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

are identical with the same organs in any other animal 
or in man. Combativeness in the cat, the dog, or in 
man is productive of the same results — all of them 
fight with such weapons as are provided for their use, 
and they all alike fight for victory. 

These organs, as we have said, are a part of that 
which we may call the mental machinery, or a part of 
the soul entity; would it then be policy, if it were 
possible, to manufacture this entire machine for each 
separate animal that exists at the time it is ushered 
into life? Or shall we not rationally conclude that 
this soul entity or mental machine, which may be 
properly called the intellect, and which we are com- 
pelled to admit does exist in the animal as well as in 
man, survives the physical organism to which it may 
be temporarily attached, equally with the human. 

"We may learn the great fact that we are dependent 
for our intellectual powers upon that which is below, 
instead of some great being which is above. That the 
very soul powers we have within us, by which we 
reason and discriminate between the truth and false- 
hood of all matters that come before us for adjudica- 
tion, have all come to us from below; they are all but 
the accumulations of those intelligent experiences that 
have been gained in the lower conditions, instead of 
coming from the highest. 

We have doubtless obtained one of these so-called 
organs or mental faculties at a time, or we have 
acquired the unfoldment of each one in the particular 
organism where nature ordains that such particular 
faculty shall be unfolded; for if we find combativeness 
and destructiveness in full activity in the lowest 



INTELLECT. 117 

animal forms, or even in the infusoria, it would be 
quite unnecessary to provide means to unfold those 
organs in the higher forms. But the higher forms of 
life are evidently adapted to the unfoldment of higher 
faculties; each one being added in its appropriate 
sphere until the intellect is fully endowed with all the 
required machinery for a human being. 

The Ethiopian is surely in a lower condition of 
unfoldment than the Mongolian, and there must be a 
reason. Each one of the five races seem to be an 
essential portion of the higher productions of our 
earth, and must have been unfolded by powers inherent 
in this planet. Each one seems to be a grade below 
the other, simply because they possess less and less 
intellectual power. The prominent difference between 
the Ethiopian and the Anglo-Saxon is that the one 
possesses powers of mind which are evidently not 
unfolded in the other. The only reason why this 
inferior race cannot accomplish what is done with 
perfect ease by the higher races, is simply because 
those higher faculties are not yet unfolded in their 
organisms, and cannot be until they by natural pro- 
cesses find a home in outer forms of a higher race, 
where the superior organ or mental power may be 
evolved or awakened to activity. 

"We have probably unfolded some faculty of mind or 
some particular function attached to the intellect, in 
every organism where we may have had a temporary 
residence; and that is doubtless part of our business 
in this, so that we enter into the next, or more spirit- 
ualized state, in possession of one more faculty devel- 
oped for use than when we entered this. Such has it 



118 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

been, and such must it be through all the interminable 
changes that an individual can pass from the lowest to 
the highest. So we may perceive that instead of 
descending from an infinite personal being who is 
inconceivably above us in power, knowledge, goodness 
and excellence, we have come precisely from the 
opposite direction, and have been ascending from the 
lowest toward this highest ideal of individualized 
exaltation. Most certainly, if we had been the direct 
offspring of a great personal being, who was possessed 
of the infinite attributes of wisdom, power and good- 
ness, we should have inherited from this parent those 
peculiar characteristics; for he could not have trans- 
mitted to his children that which he did not possess. 
If he is a personal being, possessed of unmixed good- 
ness and purity, and he is our only parent, then we as 
his children must be possessed of unmixed goodness 
and purity also;, if not, we are not the offspring of 
any such parent. For if we are, and have received all 
we possess from this parent, and if in him we live, 
move, and have our^ being, we most assuredly can 
possess nothing which was not in him to bestow upon 
us as his legitimate offspring. 

If we are the children of this great parent, and did 
not receive all we have inherent within us directly 
from him, from whence did we gather that portion 
which he did not bestow? The worse than ridiculous 
farce concerning the serpent, the forbidden tree and 
the fatal apple, utterly fails at this day and age of the 
world to present to an intelligent mind any satisfactory 
reply to these important queries. 

Here is a wonderful problem to be solved — one of 



INTELLECT. 119 

the highest interest to humanity — a query of the last 
importance, and one upon which seems to hang the 
future destiny of the race. This problem requires a 
solution, and this query an intelligent reply. We ask 
again how all this bundle of antagonisms and discords, 
this commixture of good and bad, of purity and filth, 
of virtue and vice, of noble qualities and contemptible 
meanness, of large charities and despicable niggardli- 
ness, with all the long catalogue of contradictions in 
human nature, could have originated in one pure 
divine being, and in him alone. Humanity to-day 
demands an intelligent reply from the great volume 
that is written upon the broad universe, which all her 
children may read and understand. 

The period has arrived when men require to know 
something of their origin and their future destiny; 
and no fictitious tales written by Arab, Hindoo or 
Hebrew seem to give us the required information in 
respect to these weighty inquiries. 

The universal alphabet composing the language 
which was never confounded, and which is inscribed 
everywhere upon nature's tablets, in every instance 
most emphatically declares that very much of this 
ancient legendary lore found in the various sacred 
books is largely permeated with the vain imaginings 
of their several authors; and so far from being infal- 
libly true, very much that these books contain is 
undeniably false and untruthful, and only calculated 
to delude the unwary. 

That silent language which is so deeply imprinted 
upon all the pages of nature, teaches most unmistakably 
that man never was the offspring of any such infinite 



120 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

indiyidualized parent; and that if any such ideal per- 
sonality exists within the limits of this universe, he 
too must have been subject to universal law, and have 
passed through all conditions below him, in order to 
occupy any such transcendantly exalted position. He, 
too, must have received all within him from below; 
for, if he is the highest, how could he have received 
what is in his possession from above? 

The intellect, or that ethereal soul power which 
exists in man and all things else, could never have been 
propagated upon any principle of reproduction. It 
claims no parentage, because it has eternally existed, 
and could have had no original producing cause. 
Short lived physical beings who assume these various 
forms live out their brief existence, culminate, then 
wither and die. Such may be propagated; they may 
have a parentage. But who shall reproduce the ever- 
living, self-existing God within us — the ruling mon- 
arch that sits upon the high throne of our individ- 
ualized spiritual and physical kingdom? "Who shall 
claim the parentage over that which had no birthright, 
but which has existed through the eternal ages of the 
past, and which must have passed through and lived 
in all possible forms and conditions in order to acquire 
the ability to pursue its activities in its present sphere? 

The oak produces the acorn, which is a culmination 
of itself, a reproduction of the life essences contained 
in the parent tree; the bird produces the egg, which 
may ultimate in another bird, a perfect type of itself, 
and containing within it all its own peculiarities; the 
animal or man may generate that which under proper 
conditions will result in another of similar form, pos- 



INTELLECT. 121 

sessed of all the peculiar attributes of the parent; but 
what other God is there in the broad universe that 
could have borne the seed or have lain the egg, or in 
any manner have generated that which has ultimated 
in the God within himself, or in the human, who must 
have also had an existence in some of the various con- 
ditions during all those eternal cycles which had no 
beginning, or else have been produced from nothing 
by some superior being? 

The parent must certainly precede the child; where, 
then, can any superior power have lived to generate 
that which has existed during all the eternal ages? 
One is evidently just as old as the other; neither can 
claim precedence in point of time, only their condi- 
tions previous to the present may have been more 
conducive to growth and development. Doubtless 
untold billions of individualized soul entities are 
almost infinitely in advance of ours in point of unfold - 
ment; but not one can claim any authority over ours 
by virtue of parentage, or that we have inherited any- 
thing belonging to ourselves directly from them, for 
we have most certainly obtained all we have and are 
from the same source they obtained what they had 
when in our condition. 

If superior beings have at any time acted in our 
behalf, or served us in the capacity of instructors, all 
they could possibly do for us was to offer or suggest 
to the mind ideas or thoughts. Before we could be in 
the least benefited, we must grasp or digest and com- 
prehend such thoughts by the powers of intellect we 
have within ourselves. The intelligence they have 
given us was not a part of themselves, but was drawn 



122 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

from the great reservoir; and in order to become 
suitable sustenance for our intellects, it must have been 
inferior to them, or they would have had no power to 
receive and appropriate it to their use, and hence it 
could not have been conducive to their growth and 
expansion. The soul entity or intellectual being can 
in no possible manner obtain nourishment from supe- 
rior intellectual beings, as the child partakes of susten- 
ance from its maternal parent, because the superior 
beings are composed of finer essences, such as the 
lower can by no means receive and appropriate. The 
teacher does not by any means give off a part of him- 
self to the pupils, he only introduces the young minds 
to that portion of nature's teachings in which they 
can find suitable intellectual nourishment, such as they 
are capable of digesting. The pupil must gather it 
for himself, and appropriate it by his own individual 
powers. 

The person who cultivates and trains the dog or 
other animal in such a manner that they are rendered 
capable of executing such wonderfully intelligent per- 
formances, must address the feebly developed intellects 
of the animals in a way that enables them to grasp 
and comprehend his idea; and just to that extent the 
soul powers of these animals are unfolded. The great 
marvel lies in the fact that they may be unfolded to 
such an extent by any possible means in those lower 
conditions. That which is unfolded must be intellect, 
for there is no idea connected with the term instinct 
which presupposes any possibility of unfoldment or 
expansion. 

"We have perhaps illustrated this subject to an extent 



INTELLECT. 123 

that tlie reader may easily comprehend, that superior 
intellectual beings can by no means impart or dispense 
to those below anything of their own ; neither do they 
possess any monopoly of that intelligence which may 
contribute to the sustenance of those who are not as 
far advanced. The utmost they can do is to offer us 
hints and suggestions, and direct our attention to the 
grand reservoir of all knowledge, which abounds every- 
where in the broad realms of the natural universe, so 
that we may partake of the same food and drink at the 
same fountain of wisdom with themselves. How 
extremely ludicrous and gravely ridiculous, then, all 
those ancient and modern ideas connected with reli- 
gious worship! How very absurd all the stately 
formalities and ceremonials, the solemn gymnastic 
genuflections, the laudations and glorifications which 
are perpetrated from week to week in our modern 
fashionable places of so-called divine worship! How 
mirth-provoking, and yet saddening, must all this 
appear to those advanced intellectual beings who, after 
having passed through such varied experiences, are 
now capable of beholding all this dumb show in its 
true and proper light! Can the human mind conceive 
of any exalted being who could possibly be gratified 
with such servile, cringing homage, or senseless adula- 
tion, proceeding from those who are so vastly inferior 
as these parties represent themselves? 

It seems quite probable that a company of dogs or 
mice, or even fleas, might be taught to perform cere- 
monials similar to those practiced in some of the 
popular churches. Can we conceive that any intelli- 
gent man would be delighted to witness demonstrations 



124 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

of that character addressed to himself from such a 
source? How, then, can we suppose a supreme intel- 
ligent being, whom they declare to be a thousand fold 
more remote from us than we are from the dog, would 
be affected by such silly demonstrations and idle 
flummery as are enacted by many devout congrega- 
tions, and which is called the religious worship of 
God? Somebody connected with these ridiculous, 
farcical arrangements must be terribly fooled ; and we 
leave the parties concerned to judge who they are, and 
whether it may be the worshipers or the Holy Three 
whom they ignorantly worship. 

We think the intelligent reader who has carefully 
perused the preceding pages must arrive at the conclu- 
sion that the intellect, together with the various organs 
which convey intelligence to this ruling monarch, is 
not only identical with that power which we call the 
soul entity, but that this is precisely what remains 
after the physical form has been dissolved by death. 
That this, with its working machinery, or its percep- 
tive, reflective and sensuous apparatus, is the spiritual 
entity or individuality that continues to exist and 
progress in the spiritual spheres, and that it could not 
properly commence and continue in its everlasting 
round of progress unless it had first passed through all 
lower experiences, and accumulated all the knowledge 
appertaining to the grosser materealized conditions, 
He will also have learned that the most unfolded being 
who can exist in the celestial spheres must have passed 
through the same various experiences, in order to have 
acquired his knowledge and arrived at his exaltation. 
No matter whether you bestow this title or that upon 



INTELLECT. 125 

this being — whether you call him judge, or king, or 
Immanuel, or God, or God of Gods — he never can 
become eligible to any one of those positions, or 
acquire a right to any of these distinctive titles, until 
he has first accumulated the experiences and acquired 
the knowledge which will enable him to act in these 
different capacities and properly perform the duties 
of these official stations. 

Experience is considered by theologians a very 
important item in the qualifications of Jesus Christ, 
and his brief residence here upon the earth in mortal 
form is triumphantly set forth as the grand prerequisite 
to his entrance upon the judicial throne. For they 
say he has felt our sorrows, he has borne our burdens, 
and experienced our woes, and he is thus qualified to 
sit in the judgment seat. This would more than 
intimate that his reputed Father was not competent 
to fill that office for the want of the required experi- 
ence; and he certainly could not have acquired the 
knowledge that human beings acquire unless he has 
passed through like conditions, however high or super- 
eminently glorious that which he may happen to 
occupy at the present. He cannot know what pain 
and suffering we endure, or the peculiar sensation it 
produces, unless he has realized the same under like 
circumstances. He must have had an experimental 
knowledge of similar suffering, else he would be devoid 
of a part of that wisdom which would constitute the 
knowledge of a God. Such an one might be qualified 
to sit on Mount Sinai and talk with Moses, and be 
persuaded and cajoled out of his purposes, and write 
out a code of laws which would subsequently be abro- 



126 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

gated by his successor; He might institute a peculiar 
form of ceremonial worship, with which He would 
like to be honored, and do that to-day which he would 
repent of to-morrow; but such a God would surely, 
from lack of the requisite experience, be quite incom- 
petent to take charge of the affairs of a world, much 
less to build one with all its complicated working 
machinery. 

If we are bound to fall down in the dust and 
worship some superior being, it certainly could not be 
one who has manifested incompetence and want of 
experience in every move he has made, and whose 
designs have been thwarted at every turn by his own 
offspring, who has been vainly endeavoring to patch 
up this portion of his workmanship from its creation 
to the present time, and signally failed in the end. A 
Being who was compelled to resort to such a shiftless 
subterfuge as the vicarious atonement, in order to 
rescue a mere fraction of his own self-begotten children 
from that eternal hell of torments which he had estab- 
lished by his own power and wisdom, is most assuredly 
entitled to the unmitigated contempt of every intelli- 
gent mind, instead of their adoration and suppliant 
worship. Then, if we really worship any superior 
being, it must be some one who, having passed through 
all experiences, could not be guilty of any such ridicu- 
lous blunders as are ascribed to the Hebrew God in 
that record which is said to be his own production. 
But those beings who are from their exalted attain- 
ments in wisdom and power really entitled to this high 
admiration and veneration, do not wish any servile 
worship, for it cannot be of the least avail to them to 



INTELLECT. 127 

receive from those who are now in conditions they long 
since passed through, any kind of cringing homage or 
adulation, for they are elevated entirely beyond its 
reach. Then let us, as men and women possessed of 
intellects endowed with reasoning powers, if we desire 
any favor from those who by their multiplied experi- 
ences have passed on to higher conditions, stand up in 
all the dignity of our man and womanhood, and 
respectfully make our requests known in a sensible 
and dignified manner, without any cringing servility; 
and, doubtless, if consistent and it is in their power, our 
requests will receive proper attention and be granted. 

It may be said, very justly, that we possess within 
us an organ of veneration, and that it is quite natural 
for humanity in most of its conditions to offer some 
sort of worship or homage to a superior Being; how- 
ever, it must be admitted that most of these forms of 
worship are extremely unintelligent. And upon 
examination we shall find that the so-called organ of 
veneration might with great propriety be termed 
admiration; for we certainly cannot really esteem and 
venerate and adore that which never called out or 
excited our admiration. Then we must behold or 
experience something to admire first, before we can 
possibly indulge in these higher sentiments of venera- 
tion and adoration; and all this is as involuntary upon 
the part of the worshiper as the pulsations of the heart, 
or the gentle aspirations of the inmost soul. 

All established forms of worship, directed toward 
an incomprehensible being who never was admired 
because he never was known, are evidently forced and 
perfectly unnatural. Men debase themselves by assum- 



128 THE GOSPEL OF NATUKE. 

ing cringing and obsequious attitudes, both physically 
and mentally, because their timidity — their fearful 
dread and apprehension of evil — has been aroused, 
and still holds possession of their natures, or else for 
the selfish purpose of obtaining some especial favor 
they could acquire in no other manner. 

When humanity shall become acquainted with the 
important fact that all individualized organisms are 
possessed of intellects, and that the only reason why 
the most exalted beings in the celestial spheres are 
superior to themselves, is because theirs are more 
expanded by wisdom gained from experiences in higher 
conditions, and that they have attained to a purity by 
laying off their gross material forms, the debasing 
influences of the present popular modes of worship 
will no more delude the race. Then the expensive 
modern temples erected for the worship of an unknown 
God may be appropriated to the more sensible purpose 
of dispensing real intelligent nourishment for the 
intellects of the human race, thus preparing them to 
take the next step in advance, or to enter the more 
spiritual condition unfettered and unburdened by the 
superstitions, the fogs and darkness that have origi- 
nated only upon the earth. 

We heard, not long since, a popular minister of one 
of the so-called liberal churches beseech the God he 
worshiped, in an excessively imploring and obsequious 
manner, for purity; as if it was a commodity that was 
transferable from one intellectual being to another, and 
as if the superior being he addressed had a super- 
abundance of the article he requested, and could easily 
bestow upon him and his audience all they required. 



INTELLECT. 129 

Had this learned and quite eloquent minister, who 
really ought to understand something of the nature of 
spiritual things, possessed any proper conception of 
the intellect, or the individualized soul entity, he might 
have learned that the only possible way of attaining 
to a state of purity is to lay aside the grosser elements, 
by passing through the various conditions, or by 
experiencing the dissolution of the various materialized 
forms in which this soul entity may temporarily exist 
— thus leaving the finer and purer soul elements to 
pass on to higher phases of more spiritualized existence. 

It is thus that intelligent people are continually 
applying to outside parties — to some imaginary 
beings — for that which they possess in their own 
organisms, and that which they will certainly acquire 
by processes of evolution; for surely no individual in 
all the broad realms has any more of the higher quali- 
ties inherent in his organism than we have in ours, 
or the least progressive child of nature has in his. 
The only possible difference there can be is that one 
has passed on to a higher state of intellectual develop- 
ment; nevertheless, he has only developed the very 
same faculties which inhere in the very lowest, either 
latent or in a state of activity. 

Then we discover that salvation comes from the 
interior of each selfhood, and cannot come to us from 
any outside party — it works outward; 'tis evolution, 
not involution; 'tis self- purification; and each indi- 
vidual intellect must obtain this and all other graces 
and qualities by virtue of those potencies found within 
itself, for each is a microcosm, an epitome of all there 
is in the universal world. 



CHAPTEK IV. 

DISCORDS. 

Mankind evidently very long since commenced, and 
they have continued industriously until the present, 
waging an open warfare against about one-half this 
elementary universe. That portion of the great whole 
they have esteemed and which met their approval, 
they have admired, cherished, and held in great respect. 
They have ardently desired to embrace and take pos- 
session of all this, pronouncing it good, while that 
portion they did not esteem and admire, but which 
they have despised and hated, they have on the con- 
traiw called bad or evil, and their untiring efforts have 
been put forth in lauding and sustaining the one, or 
in vain endeavors to malign and destroy the other. 
Thus we have been taught by those who were called 
good, great and learned, that human life should be a 
continual conflict and warfare, and that it should be 
our main business to fight and contend against powers 
and principalities usually called evil. 

They also confidently assert, strange as this absurdity 
may appear, that all this, both the good and the evil, 
was produced, and is at present sustained, by an 
infinite being, whose chief attributes are wisdom and 
goodness; and that he is endowed with all those divine 
harmonies which constitute him the most exalted being 
in the broad universe — the supreme ruler and gov- 

aso) 



DISCORDS. 131 

ernor of all. Xotwith standing all this, they are con- 
tinually urging people to wage a persistent onslaught 
against a large portion of this infinitely wise and good 
Father's productions. 

This unnatural and very ridiculous fight evidently 
can never cease until men shall learn to entertain 
greater respect for the other half of the universe; until 
they become penetrated with the grand truth that all 
these opposing elements are absolutely necessary; that 
they are all equally good, and designed alike to carry 
out the lofty purposes of that power and wisdom that 
has stood at the helm, governing and directing all with 
unerring precision. 

When we say this part or the other is bad, discordant 
and improper, we simply call in question that divine 
wisdom and power that contrived and brought into 
existence all this complex machinery. For if these 
apparent discords and inharmonies are really bad, who 
is responsible? The parties who from time to time 
awake to consciousness, and are endowed with sufficient 
intelligence to comprehend this fact, or the parties 
who possessed the wisdom and power to manipulate 
elements which would unfold a world like this, with 
all its necessary concomitants? 

Is it for us who have just opened our eyes upon the 
vast panorama that is passing before them, and who 
are entirely incompetent to comprehend the beginning 
and ending, or to take in the whole scope of what is 
thus presented, to say with authority this portion is 
good and to be commended, while the other is bad and 
to be condemned? Is there, we ask, any person upon 
the earth to-day who has advanced to that superior 



132 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

condition of wisdom as to understand all the workings 
of the complicated machinery of this universe, and 
who can with certainty scan and discriminate in such 
a manner as to usurp authority upon this subject? 
Who can say intelligently this part of nature is to be 
esteemed and cherished because it is very good, while 
another is barely to be tolerated, and still some other 
portion is bad, abominally bad — it should be crushed 
out, and if possible destroyed? 

The confession and acknowledgment that all things 
originated with a being possessed of supreme goodness 
would certainly be an acknowledgment that all things 
must be good; and if we adopted this hypothesis, we 
should certainly be compelled to adopt the doctrine 
that "whatever is, is right" — that is, good and right 
in the condition to which they properly belong. If 
men took this view of the subject they would not be 
dealing damnation around the land upon those they 
believe to be the enemies of goodness; but with a 
broader charity they would be more willing to assist 
all who belong to the race, and use their best endeavors 
to improve and elevate them, regardless of any super- 
ficial distinctions. 

If men better understood the working processes of 
the material and spiritual worlds — the mingling and 
commingling, the blending and interblending of con- 
flicting elements, and all the varied means used in 
order to accomplish certain purposes — they would be 
more natural, less clanish and exclusive, and regard 
with greater favor all portions of themselves, as well 
as all portions of the human race. They would not 
deem their fellows who are perhaps more unfortunate 



DISCORDS. 133 

as their inferiors, looking upon themselves as heaven's 
peculiar favorites, and others vicious enemies to the 
powers that rule in the universe. If they could only 
see all things with a vision sufficiently clear and 
expanded, they would soon discover that all conditions 
are equally good — all are upon the highway which 
leads upward — and that very many they esteem so 
much beneatli themselves are really far in advance. 

We think by looking around us a little we may find 
conflicting elements everywhere; and those upon the 
one side are doubtless just as important and good as 
those upon the other. We may also find that opposing 
forces were absolutely required in order to constitute 
a world. If these antagonistic elements had not come 
into conflict, there would have been no dispute con- 
cerning what was good and what was evil, because 
there would have been no disputants and no world 
on which to have held the controversy. All would 
have been one inconceivable blank. 

Then it follows, in order to produce a world and 
people it with intellectual beings, there must necessarily 
be discordant powers brought into activity and con- 
tinual conflict, else such great purposes could not be 
accomplished. Hence, look where we will, we find 
one power arrayed against another with belligerent 
purpose, yet working out the grandest and most har- 
monious results. If there is life there must be death, 
and one is continually warring against the other, each 
one putting forth strenuous exertions to make encroach- 
ments upon the other's dominions. Have we as men 
either the right or the ability to decide which of these 
two discordant powers is good and which is bad; to 



134 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

pronounce the one a friend and the other a foe to 
humanity? Can we say with any authority that the 
one is a blessing and the other only a calamity to be 
deplored? Do they not both come to us from the same 
high source? And by what right do we call in ques- 
tion the wisdom and the power that has made us 
subject to both these conditions? 

If we have no such right or authority, then it 
becomes our duty to teach that both are alike blessings 
to humanity, the one just as much as the other in all 
cases where either occurs. Why do sensible men and 
women array themselves in mourning apparel and call 
deatli a judgment for sins, clothing it with horror, 
while they acknowledge it to have been instituted by 
an infinite being who had the best good of his children 
near his heart? If he was the originator and insti tutor 
of death, and said that " not a sparrow falls to the 
ground without notice," he certainly would not allow 
men, women and children to die without receiving his 
particular attention; for they are of more value than 
many sparrows. Even in this case, then, we should 
be driven to the conclusion that death was as much a- 
divine institution as life, and that it never could occur 
unless it came to the party as a blessing and benefit, 
equal in value with life. Why should not humanity 
then cease this howl of woe, and why should a soul- 
stricken world endure such anguish and terror con- 
cerning a beneficent arrangement by which human as 
well as all other organized beings are removed from 
this trouble-laden earthly sphere? There must cer- 
tainly be some very good reason why all are alike taken 
from this and carried onward to a higher condition. 



DISCORDS. 135 

Suppose, now, for a moment life, or the positive 
state, had existed here exclusively, and there had been 
no negative one called death, where would have been 
all the higher hopes and aspirations of the human 
race? And what would have been the condition of 
the larger portion of earth's inhabitants at the present 
day? They would most assuredly have been old, worn 
out, miserable relics of antiquity, shriveled to the last 
extent by . the accumulations of centuries, enduring 
unspeakable wretchedness from this forced existence 
— a wearisome and useless trouble to themselves and 
every one else. They would exist without enjoyment 
at the present or hope in the future, dragging on for- 
ever and forever a compulsory life a thousand fold 
worse than annihilation or the terrible damnation 
invented by the Christian fathers. Then let us be 
grateful for death as well as life, and instead of calling 
him a grim monster and the king of terrors, let us 
recognize in him a kindly benefactor, and crown him 
with flowers as a welcome deliverer and a very gracious 
friend. 

If there is love there must also be hatred. Are we 
prepared to say that one is good and the other bad, or 
that one is in any way better than the other, or that 
one might with propriety be placed in the human 
organism while the other should be excluded? We 
find one group of organs that would seem to dispose 
us to act very kindly and with great affection toward 
some of our fellow beings, and another group that 
might lead us under certain conditions to plot their 
downfall and total destruction. Now, which of these 
organs are we to suppose the best, if there can be any 



136 THE GOSPEL OF NATUKE. 

difference in point of goodness, or are not all placed 
there for the wisest purposes? It becomes quite 
evident that an intellectual being could not have been 
properly constituted without the introduction of the 
entire group of conflicting, discordant elements we find 
incorporated into his nature, and that each one is quite 
as essential and indispensable in the construction of 
the whole organism as another. All the antagonisms 
in nature were required in the construction of the 
highly ultimated human physical and intellectual 
fabric before a harmonious piece of machinery could 
be produced. Yet people are constantly questioning 
the wisdom that placed this complicated arrangement 
in man's nature; and they declare that certain portions 
should not be brought into active exercise. They, in 
defiance of the plain, unmistakable language that is 
written upon every intellectuality, undertake to estab- 
lish rules and regulations that would partially destroy 
a portion of these organs and entirely prevent their 
healthy growth and maturity. They pursue day by 
day a deadly warfare against some of the fairest por- 
tion of nature's handiwork in the production of them- 
selves. They pronounce their own dictums, flatly 
telling the projecting and ruling powers who govern 
and control this universe, in their teeth, which part of 
their workmanship is good and beautiful and which 
part is bad and to be condemned and repudiated. 
They have and still continue to write out and establish 
conventional rules for the government of human 
society, in utter disregard and contravention to the 
laws which are plainly written by the divine hand of 
nature upon all portions of her works. 



DISCORDS. 13? 

The religious world have been for a long time 
actively engaged in a vain endeavor to patch up and 
mend that which they have supposed their God left in 
an unfinished, disjointed condition; and a slight glance 
at human society, where their manipulations have 
exerted the strongest influence, will expose to view 
their wonderful success. We need not go beyond the 
limits of the city in which we write, or any other 
populous city, to witness the unhappy effects of this 
vain struggle to overcome and subdue nature, and 
make her conform to the popular idea. 

We may behold this incessant struggle with nature 
everywhere; the parents have left the mark upon the 
brow of the children deeply impressed, and you may 
read in the crowded thoroughfare — in the cars, upon 
the sidewalk, in the public parks, in the churches, 
theaters, and in all places where men and women are 
found — you may read in their features, in every linea- 
ment, some wide departure from the simple rules that 
nature has established upon the part of their progeni- 
tors. How few of nature's noblemen or noblewomen 
do we meet in all our intercourse with the world? To 
a penetrating gaze almost every one we see carries the 
mark of Cain, or some other erring mortal, deeply 
stamped upon them. Is there no possibility of im- 
proving the human race — of producing a more highly 
developed breed of men and women? Must we adopt 
the conclusion that the utmost skill and ingenuity of 
the human mind in this respect is to be exhausted in 
raising superior horses, cattle and pigs? Men have 
accomplished all they have yet done in this department 
by a study of nature's laws. We think it will be 



138 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

admitted that religion has in no way interfered in this 
matter of breeding improved stock; and we are appre- 
hensive that the simple rules nature has inscribed 
upon her universal tablets must be called into requisi- 
tion if the human race is improved or unfolded, either 
physically or mentally, to a higher condition, entirely 
regardless of any and all the religions that exist. A 
very considerable portion of humanity are discovering 
this handwriting upon the broad face of the natural 
universe; they are beginning to read and interpret for 
themselves; they are throwing off old traditions and 
authorities. These people are waking up to a newness 
of life, and receiving teachings which can only be 
found in the great volume where all facts and principles 
are in perfect harmony and accord with universal 
nature. There can be no breaks, discords and conflicts 
in the ultimate — but one grand harmonious chain of 
being from the low r est atom to the infinite w T hole. 

If men would learn concerning nature, they must 
certainly inquire of nature, who is abundantly qualified 
to impart the desired information; if they would learn 
concerning themselves, they should inquire of them- 
selves — they should apply to that source from whence 
the desired knowledge comes — for in no other place 
can it be found. If they would write books of any 
value, it becomes necessary to first peruse carefully 
nature's great unwritten volume, which is alike open 
for all; and none, until they have turned over many 
of these pages, can write successfully. Books, to be 
of any real value, must be transcripts from nature's 
ample pages. Most people have contented themselves 
with the knowledge picked up by their ancestors, and 



DISCORDS. 139 

seemed to suppose the fountain might be exhausted. 
But we cannot conclude such to be the case, for it cer- 
tainly contains all our fathers discovered for their 
purposes, and doubtless an inexhaustible supply for all 
coming generations. 

The vast reservoir of undiscovered truth is evidently 
still full to the brim, and all the kindreds of the earth 
are invited to come and satisfy their cravings. Those 
who have been out in a strange country, and have 
wasted their living with seducing harlots, and are 
reduced down to the husks of the dead past, may return 
to their father's house — to the beautiful realms where 
nature's children sport in all their glory, where none 
but the purest and simplest truths are taught, and 
where all are alike free, to the poor as well as to the 
rich. They may roam through nature's halls, partake 
of her bounties, dance with the brothers and sisters 
of their own parents' household, and commence learn- 
ing the great lessons in which all must be instructed 
before they can come to a knowledge of their own 
beings — before they may know the exalted purposes 
for which they were designed. 

We trust now, if we look around us into those 
realms where dwells the great mother from whence all 
have proceeded, we shall find little but conflicting 
elements, both positive and negative, male and female, 
and that all the forces in nature are antagonistic. 
Without these discordant powers nothing in nature 
could be produced; no organizations or materialized 
forms could be brought into existence. We are 
indebted entirely to these antagonisms for this earth 
upon which we live, for its unfoldment up to its 



140 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

present condition, and for all its appertainings which 
render it a suitable habitation for intelligent beings. 
Devoid of them, it would have had no revolutions, no 
motion, no life; all would have been quiet, stillness 
and eternal death. Had not these conflicting elements 
existed, it never would have been said, " let us make 
man;" because man, with all his wondrous activities, 
could not have been made. Activity conflicts with 
rest; and if this element had not existed in nature 
also, it could not have been introduced into man's 
organism, and then he would have remained in eternal 
repose, and never put in an appearance. No other 
element could have entered into his constitution unless 
it had first been found in nature; and we certainly 
never should have found him to be such a complicated 
being unless all the elements of which he is composed 
had first belonged to the natural universe. 

Man, they tell us, is a microcosm, a part and parcel 
of the whole. It took a part of all the elements in 
nature to construct this wonderful fabric — a something 
of all entered into its composition. This, perhaps, 
may be the cause of complaint. Here it may be is 
where he needs mending; either nature has too many 
elements, or else too large a portion of them have been 
introduced into the human organism. One thing, at 
least, we ascertain : If there is too much or too little, 
or if the structure is in any other way faulty, man 
certainly is not responsible, for he had no choice in the 
matter. We may, however, take it for granted that 
every discordant element- in nature has entered into 
his constitution, and that they are all placed there for 
the highest purposes. All require his care and atten- 



DISCOKDS. 141 

tion, and a judicious cultivation; for, destitute of the 
least one of these, he could not unfold to a proper 
manhood. Without embracing all this in the mental 
and physical structure, it would be utterly impossible 
to obtain all those experiences which would prepare 
him for entering the higher circles and spheres of con- 
scious existence. 

In order to produce an intellectual individuality in 
the proper sense of that term, all the resources of 
nature have been put into requisition; and unless all 
these vast resources had been drawn upon, it would 
have been impossible to have organized such a complex 
piece of machinery. Then there is not an element 
within man's organization to spare; none can be 
missing, and none should be deranged by neglect or 
improper cultivation. This subject must in time be 
better understood, and this warfare against a portion 
of ourselves must cease to harass and vex mankind. 

Are there forces in and upon the earth which pro- 
duce the fearful tornado that rushes across the conti- 
nent and across the ocean in all its fury, regardless of 
the utter destruction that marks its pathway? The 
stately ships are dashed in pieces and buried beneath 
the waves of the sea, and thousands of brave men sink 
to rise no more upon the earth, that these elements 
may exercise their activities and assist in working out 
their mighty problems. There are also those that 
produce the heavings, the quakings and terrible shocks 
of the devastating earthquake. Cities, with all their 
inhabitants, are swallowed up, while portions of the 
country are laid waste and rendered desolate by these 
wonderful convulsions. Such forces exist in nature; 



142 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

they are carrying out their grand purposes and per- 
forming their legitimate duties, regardless of the 
solemn petitions of men or of the fearful destruction 
that results from their activities. 

The thunder's deafening clangor rolls along the 
heavens, and the lightning's vivid shafts flash amid 
the clouds, while the proud ship, the stately dwelling, 
or perhaps unfortunate traveler or resident is destroyed. 
Does any one say that these elements should be 
crushed out and overcome — that nature or the earth 
is at fault for suffering their active exercise and per- 
mitting such antagonisms to exhibit their fearful and 
destructive powers? 

All these elements must exist in the human organ- 
ism, whatever may be the results; and no individual 
can be constructed without something of that which 
causes so much devastation upon the earth. 

Shall we inquire of nature who is culpable, who is 
guilty of a wrong or a misdeed, when any of its com- 
ponent elements enter into active conflict, when the 
gathering clouds of the approaching storm are rolling 
onward with threatening rapidity, when the forked 
electric shafts are setting the heavens ablaze, when the 
furious blasts are rending the forests and scattering 
desolation in their pathway, when the whirlwind or 
fiercer tornado is leveling our tenements with the 
earth, while destruction and ruin is everywhere stalk- 
ing abroad? 

The sweeping flood comes down upon our fairest 
landscapes and habitations, and with its wasting deluge 
swallows up what has been left by the other powers, 
enveloping all in its watery covering; and then 



DISCORDS. 143 

remains until the teeming orchard, the well tilled field 
and the beautiful garden, with their foliage, flowers 
and fruits, are all swept away, and the labor perhaps 
of years presents one wide scene of blight and death. 
Men stand by and witness all this conflict, and with, 
solemn and almost speechless awe call it a visitation 
of God, whose wrath has been kindled against them 
for their numerous sins. 

Destructive fires come and enter into the contest; 
they wage a warfare against man's best energies to 
build up and beautify the earth. With their raging 
fury they lick up and devour whole cities to satiate 
their craving appetites. In their fierce wrath they 
destroy the most elaborately built mansion of the rich 
with as little apparent compunction as the humble 
cottage of the poor; and all alike bow with meek sub- 
mission, patiently build up their dwellings once more, 
and bear the great calamity with becoming fortitude. 
Who thinks of complaining that nature is out of joint 
in this respect, or that their God was unjust for intro- 
ducing this terrible enemy into his works? 

If we look into the various departments of organic 
life below the human, we may find there excessively 
jarring and discordant elements exercising all their 
furious activities. Confine our microscopic vision 
within the limits of a single drop of water, and we 
may get a peep at terrible antagonisms — see one little 
sprite pursuing its neighbor with tiger-like ferocity, 
destroying the lives of those that are inferior in 
strength, and feasting upon their dead bodies. How 
strange, that these little fellows should possess an 
innate love of life, hastening from their pursuers, and 



144 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

evading by all means in their power the clutches of 
their enemies, or else turning and giving them valiant 
light; exhibiting the great fact that combativeness and 
destructiveness have come up from the infinitesimal 
realms. 

The large fish devour the smaller without the least 
apparent remorse; they seem to enjoy the feast, and 
fatten upon the death and destruction of their inferiors. 
We believe that thus far the most pious religionists 
have never attempted to prohibit their followers from 
eating these murderous cannibal fishes, and thus incor- 
porating these elements into their inmost constitutional 
organisms. 

The serpent swallows the toad, and no one seems to 
tell us which is in fault — the snake for swallowing in 
obedience to the provisions of nature, or the toad for 
quietly submitting to this seemingly unnatural process 
of deglutition. .One fact is apparent upon the face of 
this transaction, and that is the two natures are won- 
derfully antagonistic; but we think it would be quite 
impossible for our wisest clergymen to tell us which is 
the best of the two, or which is good and which is 
evil. It would appear to be a great evil to the toad to 
be swallowed in such a manner; and it might be an 
evil to the snake to thus overload his stomach by 
taking so much toad at a single meal. But, unless 
nature is at fault, both parties must be benefited by 
this operation — -the one has obtained the elements 
required for sustenance, and the spiritual element 
within the other has been set free by a dissolution of 
the physical form, so it may rise to superior conditions. 

The eagle soars aloft, and with its far-seeing eye 



DISCORDS. 145 

descries some innocent victim in the distance; and 
pouncing down with fell purpose of death in his heart, 
seizes his lawful prey and conveys it in triumph to his 
aerie upon the dizzy heights of the mountain cliff. 
The fox roams stealthily over field and forest, or sneaks 
into the neighboring farm yard during the dark hours 
of the night, in pursuit of that food that nature has 
provided. There seems to be a terrible clashing of 
interests in all this matter — wonderful elemental dis- 
cords; but which of them all can we pronounce good, 
and w r hich dare we say is bad? 

These jarring, conflicting conditions seem to exist 
conspicuously throughout the entire range of organized 
life, from the least animalcule up to that crowning 
effort of nature, the human — the most exalted animal 
the earth has produced; and here, as we might have 
anticipated, we find the culmination of all antagonisms. 
Man assumes the prerogative to wage a perpetual war- 
fare upon all below himself, and deals out destruction 
and death with an unsparing hand, either to satisfy 
the cravings of his appetites or to supply his passional 
gratifications and wanton pleasures. He hesitates not 
in the least to subject all to the controlling influence 
of his will; nothing must interfere with the promotion 
of his interests, however much they may come in con- 
tact with the interests of those beings less advanced 
than himself. They must succumb; for man rules 
with an iron hand, which, if necessary to promote his 
ends, is raised against everything possessed of less 
power. Not only his " riot," but his continued exist- 
ence, " dooms the lamb to bleed," as well as the cattle 
upon a thousand hills, and a large portion of the 
10 



146 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

animal race. His life is at war with their lives; he 
subsists upon their death; the conflict must still be 
waged, and these universal battles must continue to be 
fought, or man must die for want of sustenance. 

Can all this be in accordance with premeditated 
arrangement, or has it happened bj the merest chance 
— by an oversight of the supereminent wisdom that 
laid the foundations of the earth; by a lack of ability 
in those who are said to have listened to the glad 
symphonies when the morning stars sang together? 
Did some huge blunder, or some great mistake, occur 
at that early period in the world's history, or does all 
this seeming or real discord exist in the very soul 
essence of nature's elements, fully comprehended by 
those supervising powers who have watched over and 
scanned all nature's works with a wisdom quite suffi- 
cient for every emergency, and who must in every 
period of its progressive history pronounce it " good, 
very good"? 

If we take a peep into nature's laboratory, we shall 
doubtless find she has some very curious processes by 
which she works out her problems and performs her 
arduous labors, and that in the accomplishment of her 
high purposes she is continually bringing to bear very 
discordant elemental forces. Nature is constantly 
tearing down and reconstructing upon improved prin- 
ciples; she dissolves material substances, and again 
reunites the particles in a higher form ; and, in fact, it 
is quite possible that we may find disintegration and 
reunion of atoms a very conspicuous part of her busi- 
ness. All this necessarily involves one continuous 
scene of conflict. One belligerent power must wage 



DISCORDS. 147 

war against another before dissolution and reunion can 
by any possibility occur; and unless it had occurred, 
nature could not have changed from a static condition 
— she could by no means have made this steady 
advance from the lower to a higher phase of existence. 

If all was originally granite, then a portion of that 
solid substance must be called upon to subserve a 
higher purpose; which could not be done unless it 
passed through certain changes — unless it was dis- 
solved. In order to accomplish this — in order to 
change it into soil suitable to produce vegetable life — 
powerful enemies must have been brought to bear in 
the shape of solvents; they must attack this solid rock 
in such a manner as to crumble it to ruins; they must 
oppose their powers against its cohesive nature, and 
grind it to powder. The resultant particles may again 
reunite in the form of some other rock, and again be 
submitted to a similar process, until by these terrible 
manipulations they may be impregnated with the 
elements of vegetable life sufficient to produce lichens 
or some of the inferior orders of that kingdom. The 
vegetables in their turn must die, and mingle up with 
the sterile soil, until finally, by this continued life and 
death, the lofty pine and sturdy oak have made their 
appearance. 

Had all things been harmonious from the earlier 
periods, and had no enemies been found in nature 
capable of dissolving the solid granite — had its parti- 
cles remained intact, and peace and quietness continued 
over all until the present day — then all would have 
still been one wide spread scene of desolation and 
death, and no living active organized forms would have 



148 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

existed upon all the earth. Suppose, again, this con- 
flicting scene of discordant activities could have been 
arrested at any period in the earth's history; then all 
nature must have necessarily stopped, and all things 
would have remained in that condition. But, fortu- 
nately, all things have their enemies — all enter into 
the mighty conflict, all are subject to dissolution. All 
the particles must again commingle with the soil and 
other portions of elemental nature, fertilizing and ren- 
dering them capable of producing higher forms of 
vegetable and animal life, and thus onward through all 
the gradations of progressive existence. Universal 
peace and harmony means exactly universal negative- 
ness, coldness and death; and if, as we have said, this 
state had been introduced at any period of this advan- 
cing history, then all must have stopped there, and 
remained in that precise condition until the general 
conflict could have been once more inaugurated. 

Thus we perceive all conditions have been built up 
and established upon the ruins of that which preceded; 
and such must necessarily be the case until nature 
shall have accomplished her ultimate purposes, if such 
can be possible. 

Suppose all conflicts in human society could cease 
their operations to-day, and all that is abominable, vile 
and wicked, or opposed to virtue and the enlightened 
Christianity of the present age, should be swept out 
of existence; and suppose all things were rendered 
quiet, peaceable and harmonious, in accordance with 
the most fervent petition of the devout Quaker; sup- 
pose all the discordant elements in the natural universe 
should suspend their influences upon humanity, and 



DISCORDS. 149 

sickness and sorrow, pain and death, should be felt and 
feared no more in all the world. Can we conclude 
that such would be a better or more desirable state of 
things, and that society would be in a happier or more 
advantageous condition? 

If we inquire into the result we shall inevitably find 
that all hopes and aspirations that animate our breasts 
with such glorious promise in the future, would be 
swept away also. The last page of human history 
would have been recorded; for all in the future would 
necessarily be but one dead standstill, or at the most 
one lethargic, monotonous round, and for all time to 
come there could be nothing to look or hope for but 
that which had been already experienced ; no problem 
to work out, for all would have been solved; no agree- 
able expectations to be realized, tor all has been already 
accomplished; no felicitous changes to be hoped for, 
as there is no conflicting element in activity that could 
produce any change whatsoever. Such a kind of 
negative happiness would inevitably become loathsome, 
and the stagnant peace and quietness induced by this 
negative harmony sickening to the soul. The unthink- 
ing Christian world, who had so long earnestly prayed 
and agonized for just this state of things, would pray 
more fervently to be set back, that they might take the 
world as it now is, with all its turmoils and strifes, its 
wickedness and abominations; and they would hail 
these discordant elements which appear to be pro- 
ductive of such great evils as the most cherished bless- 
ing that could be conferred upon humanity. 

Then mankind had better cease their whining and 
their manifest dissatisfaction, and kiss the chastening 



150 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

rod which seems to inflict the severest blows, accept 
of nature as they find it, and with true and brave 
hearts be willing to work out their own salvation with 
the means provided; not using vain endeavors to shirk 
the responsibility, with the idle expectation that some 
one else will bear the burdens that properly belong to 
themselves. Each back is fitted for its own, and 
each should bear it manfully, without a sneaking 
recourse to vicarious sufferings endured by some one 
else. If there is suffering to be endured by the human 
race, why should we not bear that suffering for our- 
selves, rather than to permit some one else to endure 
their own share and ours also? 

By these ever living active conflicts the world is 
moving onward to a higher condition of unfoldment 
and magnificence; and we may go onward also, if we 
choose to get aboard of the cars that are going forward 
to a higher destination. But, if we choose to take a 
seat in the old, rickety, worn-out, conservative mud 
wagon, whose drivers and conductors are desirous of 
keeping quiet or remaining in the same old condition 
under the ancient, moss-covered, apostolic shed forever, 
we may do so; there is no one to hinder. However, 
our personal interest and a wise policy would seem to 
dictate that we take passage upon the train that is 
moving upon the great railroad of progressive unfold- 
ment — the one that is going on to higher and still 
higher achievements — working out grander and still 
grander results, by entering into and grappling with 
this universal conflict that none should seek to avoid. 

We discover that all things in our world are in a 
very unfinished condition, and that important work is 



DISCORDS. 151 

still to be done; everywhere instrumentalities must be 
brought into activity for very many ages to come if 
we would have this wonderful machine approximate a 
state of completion. The physical globe is evidently 
in a very imperfect state; it seems to require touching 
and retouching in a thousand places, in order to bring 
it up to that more elaborated condition in which it 
may subserve the stupendous purposes designed by 
the original architects, by whom its very foundations 
seem to have been established. 

If we peruse the volume of nature carefully, we shall 
readily perceive that life has in every instance pro- 
ceeded from the opposing element, death, in all the 
various forms in which life has manifested itself in its 
progressive existence, from the most diminutive vege- 
table up to its noblest representative, man, the crown- 
ing glory of living forms upon the earth. The higher 
in all these gradations have grown out of, and are 
compelled to subsist upon, the death and dissolution 
of the lower, and conflicting elements must be brought 
to bear in order to accomplish this object. Although 
our Puritan fathers chastised the cat for killing mice 
upon the Sabbath, they were forced to admit that the 
carniverous propensities of this animal were such that 
she must destroy life in order to satisfy the cravings 
of those appetites placed within her by divine power 
and wisdom. They graciously permitted poor puss to 
roam abroad during the less holy days of the week 
upon the war path, in pursuit of her innocent victims, 
carrying dismay and death in her stealthy tread, as 
she seized and throttled her helpless prey. They also 
acquiesced in that fiend-like enjoyment with which she 



152 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

tantalized and tortured those who fell into her clutches, 
during their last lingering moments of agony and dis- 
tress; and notwithstanding all these terribly discordant, 
ferocious and destructive elements were exhibited by 
this domestic animal, yet she was tolerated by the 
stern, ascetic Puritan, and also by the more peace- 
loving Quaker. The cat, although possessed of all 
these relentless and barbarous traits of character, is 
admitted as a favored and cherished inmate of the 
household of the most pious and peace-loving people, 
and is the petted companion of their children. "When 
we behold her in her gambols frisking playfully upon 
the carpet, or pillowed upon the lap of the child, pur- 
ring forth her quiet and satisfaction, we involuntarily 
pronounce her the very impersonation of peace and 
harmony. 

Now, we may inquire very properly which of these 
two counter elements, that seem to exist in this animal 
so conspicuously, is good and which is bad, or whether 
one is better than the other, and if both are not equally 
useful in their place? If the cat manifested this fero- 
city and destructiveness among our little ones, we 
could not allow her a place upon the premises ; but 
these savage traits of character are very much needed 
in the barns, storehouses and fields, that the stock of 
vegetables and cereals which have been provided with 
so much care and labor may not be destroyed by those 
marauding little fellows, the rats and mice. Thus we 
find a two-fold nature entirely discordant in this 
humble domestic creature, from which we may learn 
some valuable lessons. Both must be alike good and 
equally important in their place. She blesses the 



DISCORDS. 153 

children as a kindly, affectionate and playful friend; 
and she blesses the proprietors of the household while 
acting in the capacity of a stealthy foe and ferocious, 
bloody monster, destroying those enemies who might 
otherwise make serious depredations upon the living 
of the household. 

Wherever we may look, through all the gradations 
of vegetable and animal existence, we discover one 
universal warfare, one destructive conflict; all life 
subsisting by the death of something else. Vegetation 
cannot be successfully produced unless the earth has 
been fertilized by the destruction of something which 
has preceded. The entire animal race are compelled 
to wage a perpetual warfare against the lives of some- 
thing else m order to sustain their own existence. 
They must in every instance take life in order to sus- 
tain life; and usually the life of the higher is built 
upon the death of that which is below. All the 
different species — the herbivorous as well as carniver- 
ous animals — are pursuing this deadly warfare in 
order to subsist; all destroying some organic form of 
life. AVe may trace step by step, throughout all the 
gradations and ramifications of organized beings, this 
universal and unending discordant conflict; every one 
gorging and feasting themselves upon the life of their 
inferiors, in order to sustain and perpetuate their own. 

We need not stop here; for after an extended can- 
vass of the terrible antagonisms that are inherent in 
the whole range of animal existence, we may rise to 
the ultimatum of physical organisms, and there we 
find a culmination of all the discords, the grand 



154 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

climax of the various conflicting elements which can 
be found in every department of nature below. 

If we have found anything bad in our researches 
through the lower organisms, we shall doubtless find 
all these, bad as well as good characteristics, concen- 
trated in man ; for he is the microcosm of all that is 
below — he is the ultimate of all that is inferior to 
himself. All have been ushered into existence that 
man, the crowning glory of every other form, might 
have a being; and man possesses within himself inher- 
ently all this complicity of discordant elements that 
exist in all inferior things which nature has produced. 

We cannot say this has been the result of accident 
or some mishap, or that this state of affairs was 
brought about by the wicked machinations of some 
adversary; but we discover plainly that the true 
nature of man is the direct and legitimate result of 
all the life organisms below him, who have been work- 
ing out and preparing for interminable ages in the 
past these very conflicting elements which have entered 
into and constitute him a man. All those forces have 
evidently been directed by inconceivable wisdom and 
power toward a certain well understood and definite 
purpose; and this grand object could never have been 
lost to view by the pre-eminent supervising intellects 
for a single moment. Man, as he is and as he was, 
being the grand finishing touch of all organic forma- 
tions — the solution of all the problems that had been 
worked up in the natural realms, and containing 
within his own nature something of all that had been 
produced previously — could not be the result of some 
careless, mistaken blunder; but he is evidently the 



DISCOEDS. 155 

product of that wisdom which is abundantly able to 
accomplish the work undertaken in its own peculiar 
manner, and has done so in this instance, as well as in 
everything inferior to the human organization. 

Can we suppose that some supreme architect, 
endowed with the requisite wisdom and power, con- 
structed this world, and carried out his plans success- 
fully until that particular juncture when it was 
necessary to bring man upon the stage, and that right 
here he was nonplussed, foiled, and quite defeated in 
his purposes; that he here met with difficulties entirely 
unforeseen and unanticipated? Can we suppose that 
he became so dissatisfied with this part of his own 
work that he owned up a miserable failure; and 
although he had fitted up a beautiful garden residence 
in a very tasteful manner for the accommodation of 
his first pair, was forced to turn them out and cause 
the earth to bring forth briers and thorns, whereas 
it might otherwise have been a lovely, wide extended 
and fruitful landscape. 

What respect and veneration can we entertain for a 
Being who could undertake such an important task 
and manifest such incompetency; who could whine and 
waste useless regrets, be sorry and repent that he had 
ever undertaken this portion of his workmanship; and 
who could finally, in a most reckless manner, destroy 
nearly all that he had produced from the face of the 
earth by a deluge? And yet such have been the 
highest teachings which men have received from those 
who claim to exercise authority, and who seem to 
entertain unbounded reverence and veneration for the 



156 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

beings whom they declare were guilty of these terrible 
blunders and mistakes. 

They acknowledge their infinitely wise God or Gods 
could manufacture crickets and grasshoppers most 
admirably; that He could produce the birds of the air, 
the turtle dove, the sparrow and the eagle, and that 
such are marvelously adapted to their condition. He 
could even produce the cat, the dog, the horse, or the 
ape, and that all these are supereminent manifestations 
of skill and wisdom ; that they are most ingeniously 
fitted to that part of the fabric to which they severally 
belong. They do not pretend to suggest any improve- 
ments upon this portion of His workmanship; and 
they express the utmost satisfaction with the exquisite 
manner in which all this has been performed. 

But when we come up to man — the crowning effort, 
the masterpiece of the entire work — then comes in the 
fault finding; then we begin to hear of dissatisfactions 
and disagreements, of mystifications all obscured in 
darkness, of complicated uncertainties and multitu- 
dinous theological teachings and explanations. Here 
comes in the thousand contradictory opinions, and all 
the doctrines, the credenda and ceremonial machinery, 
the twi stings, turnings and windings of all the various 
denominations. Here arises the denunciations of each 
sect against all others and against the world, with the 
prejudices, bickerings, coldness and ill-feelings which 
have marked the history of these differing persuasions 
since they have had an existence upon the earth. 
Here has originated in days gone by the whole sicken- 
ing history of persecutions and martyrdoms during 
the long years that religious superstition has predomi- 



DISCORDS. 157 

nated so extensively in the world. Even at the present 
time, where so much intelligence prevails, we find 
mankind as much befogged as ever, all because they 
have conceived the idea that something was wrong — 
some screw loose in the machine — and that man was 
ushered upon the stage of existence as a faulty and 
very incomplete piece of mechanism. It has been 
supposed that man in no way answered the designs of 
Him who projected and brought him into existence; 
and yet they constantly affirm that the party or parties 
who said "let us make man in our image" were 
infinite in knowledge and power, although they made 
such a signal failure in this part of the grand produc- 
tion. 

Infinite in power and wisdom, and still made a 
grand failure exactly where the finest opportunity was 
presented to make an exhibition of infinite ability, 
where it was most needed, and where it would have 
reflected the greatest possible honor! If man could 
have been created as perfect of his kind as the horse or 
the ox, and made to subserve his purpose as admirably, 
had he been no more of a failure, then it would have 
saved all this miserable subsequent patchwork; these 
feeble and vain endeavors to mend a bad matter by 
concocting schemes and instituting atonements. It 
would have saved those vile aspersions that seem to 
rest against the supposed creators of man, as no such 
horrible ideas could have been entertained which bears 
upon their face such fiendish imbecility, and contem- 
plates the meanness, as well as cruelty, of casting man 
into eternal torment because they themselves failed to 
construct him properly. 



158 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

If humanity could become fully apprised of the 
great and important fact that man has been evolved, 
and that he is organized in perfect accordance with the 
highest wishes and the original design of those super- 
eminent powers under whose influence he was un- 
folded, all this trouble might at once cease to exist. 
If they could discover there was a wisdom somewhere 
in the universe as fully competent to produce men and 
women, in accordance with universal immutable law, 
as cats, dogs, donkeys or apes, then the public mind 
would be disabused of many of their stupid errors, 
and about sixty thousand idle clergymen could go to 
work like other men and earn an honest livelihood. 
When all shall learn that there has been no more 
blunders committed in the production of the human 
than in lower forms of organized life, and that all are 
working out their high destinies in obedience to the 
original design, then man will make another stride 
forward in the high road of his progressive history; a 
new epoch will dawn upon the world, and human 
intellects will occupy a more elevated plane than at 
present. Then they will know of a truth that no par- 
ticular portion of the entire machinery of this world 
has been neglected, but that every part has received 
attention, and will ultimately attain to the highest 
possible condition ; and that all the conflicting elements 
everywhere will finally be productive of universal har- 
mony. 

Now, if men have accepted and taught such unnat- 
ural and incongruous ideas concerning their own 
interior conformations — ideas so far at variance with 
the true nature of the case, as any one may discover at 



DISCORDS. 159 

a glance, when divested of prejudice, they stop to can- 
vass this matter — it is by no means surprising that 
they should have formed equally unnatural and inco- 
herent ideas concerning the interior formation of this 
physical globe. If they have filled up human organ- 
isms with such a mass of useless rubbish, or placed 
within them the internal fires of damnation, what 
wonder that they should seek to fill up this earthly 
globe in a similar unnatural manner, either with a 
confused mass of rocks and useless debris a thousand 
times worse than nothing, or else with the equally 
absurd incandescent fires of the modern philosopher? 
To have created or produced man in accordance with 
the teachings of theology, or to have brought into 
existence a world as the eminent scientists of the day 
have imagined concerning this one, would presuppose 
that such creators or manufacturers were mere charla- 
tans or empyrics, and barely trying experiments; and 
that they had in both cases most essentially failed in 
accomplishing their full purposes. There is not an 
intelligent man who walks the earth can give a sub- 
stantial reason why humanity should have been brought 
into existence in conformity with the views of the 
theologian of the old school — " a vessel of wrath fitted 
for destruction " — or why this physical globe should 
have been filled brimming full of useless material or 
incandescent molten lava. Both these fabulous ideas 
will at no distant period belong to the dead past; and 
men will wonder with great astonishment that their 
ancestors could have entertained opinions so frivolous 
and chimerical, and so entirely opposed to a sound 
philosophy. 



160 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

But, in the conflict of the ages, the demonstrable 
truths and established principles of the present have 
been reared upon the chimeras and extravagant fancies 
of a more ignorant period; so in all the future con- 
tinuous changes must take place in every department 
of progressive knowledge. The history of science, 
philosophy, and perhaps theology, will, as in past ages, 
continue to be the building up of new and better estab- 
lished verities upon the ruins of old opinions which 
were not clearly and definitely understood, thus laying 
the foundations deeper and broader as man goes 
onward in his researches, and his means of information 
are increased and extended. > 

A cursory examination will satisfy the candid thinker 
that not one of all the multitudinous religions that 
men have adopted in the various ages of the world, 
have had any real tendency to quell the discordant 
elements existing in human nature; but, on the con- 
trary, they have rather aggravated and increased the 
general disturbance. The very first gleam of a reli- 
gious thought in the minds of men existing in the 
rudest condition of the earlier times, contemplated the 
idea of wrath, conflict, and possible destruction; and 
such in an eminent degree have been incorporated into 
all forms of faith that have been instituted in the 
world. The central idea of every religion, from the 
earliest, crudest forms to the present gorgeous displays 
that are made in our popular churches, has been that 
two conflicting powers are arrayed against each other 
— the one weak and small, the other strong and great; 
and that it becomes necessary for the weak to offer 



DISCORDS. 161 

sacrifices to the stronger in order to placate his wrath, 
and thus prevent their utter destruction. 

The conflicting elements of combativeness and 
destructiveness have been the most important ingre- 
dients that have entered into not only the outward 
forms and ceremonials of all the various religions, but 
their spiritual essence have been impregnated with 
these inseparable antagonisms from the earlier ages 
till the present. Men of all religions have uniformly 
endowed the supreme objects of their adoration and 
worship with faculties and characteristics similar to 
themselves ; they have looked upon them as belligerant, 
intolerant and exacting in their requirements, and that 
it was really necessary that something should be 
destroyed, or that blood should be spilled and life 
sacrificed, in order to satisfy their carniverous demands. 
All religions alike have reared their altars, slain their 
victims, and offered their bloody sacrifices to placate 
the vindictive wrath of some dreadful monster God ; 
and the peaceable religion of Jesus boldly declares, as 
a fundamental principle, that without the shedding of 
blood there is no remission of sins. 

Then it becomes quite evident that religion, in its 
elemental structure, recognizes the great fact of uni- 
versal discords and inharmonies existing everywhere, 
from the throne of that supreme God that is worshiped 
by the zealous devotee, down to the most despicable 
human being found upon the earth. We also trust 
their general history will show most conclusively, by 
the terrible conflicts that have been inaugurated under 
their influence, and by the torrents of human blood 
that have been shed in their defense, that religious 
11 



162 THE GOSPEL OF NAT ORE. 

institutions have never as yet practically brought 
peace on earth and good will to the children of men. 
Can we entertain such an idea when we find a great 
Christian nation engaged in a bloody civil contest, and 
each party praying most fervently to their God to 
bring destruction and death upon their enemies? 

The great founder of the Jewish religion commenced 
his public career by slaying an Egyptian with his own 
hands; and after a series of conflicts this people escaped 
from bondage by a well arranged plan that overthrew 
and destroyed a great number of their enemies in the 
Red Sea; and it was thus that this religious enterprise 
was baptised in the blood of their fellow men. Strange 
as it may appear, this great massacre seems to have 
been perpetrated almost exclusively by the God whom 
the Hebrews and the Christians both claim to worship 
as the supreme ruler and author of the universe — the 
great center and object of all religious adoration. 

We can scarcely glance at the history of the Jewish 
people, from the time of their departure from Egypt 
up to the last day of their national existence, but we 
find them engaged in the most bloody and murderous 
wars, either among themselves or against the neigh- 
boring people upon whose natural rights they had 
encroached. How could this be otherwise, when it 
was a prime article in their established creed that the 
God they worshiped brought them out of Egypt with 
His powerful and destructive arm; that he ordered 
and assisted in fighting their bloody battles, and com- 
manded them to put to death the innocent victims that 
fell into their hands? What could we expect from a 
people who were taught these sentiments in their 



DISCORDS. 163 

infancy, and also that they were a chosen race, the 
especial favorites of the only true God, entirely supe- 
rior in every sense of the word to the other nations of 
the earth, whom they were taught to look upon as the 
enemies of their God as well as themselves. Such 
ideas incorporated into their religion, and promulgated 
among this entire people, were eminently calculated to 
bring them into collision and open conflict with all 
the surrounding nations; especially those who occupied 
the territory they so much coveted, and which they 
claimed as their own by the promise of their God. 

It is quite unnecessary for our purpose to recall the 
details of the destructive conflicts that marked the 
history of this people from the days of Moses until 
the destruction of Jerusalem and their general disper- 
sion. Suffice it to say, that this chosen people fully 
equalled, if they did not exceed, in atrocity and cruelty, 
any other nation upon the earth; and that all the 
power they had was actively exerted in a war of exter- 
mination against those nations who happened to be in 
peaceable possession of the country they chose to divide 
among the tribes as an inheritance. 

The Christian world have exultingly quoted very 
many of these terrible conflicts in which the Jews 
were engaged in the different wars which they waged 
against the neighboring nations, as eminent instances 
where divine interference was brought to bear, where 
the Hebrew God entered personally into the contest, 
and assisted His people in gaining their signal victories. 
They also claim that most of these wars were inaugu- 
rated by the immediate direction of this divine power; 
thus acknowledging the doctrine that the only true 



164 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

religion of that period was established by a war-making 
Jehovah, and that all this continued scene of barbarous 
conflicts was promoted and sustained by this great 
God of battles. We may very properly inquire by 
what authority another personage, who claims to be 
only an heir to that divine universal Father who 
fought the battles of the Jews, should come in and 
repudiate his proceedings, proclaiming peace on earth 
and good will to all men, unless the Father who had 
been ordering and assisting in the perpetration of so 
much violence and bloodshed had retired from the 
government and given up his authority entirely. If 
the infinite Being who it is claimed established the 
Jewish religion and fought their battles, still reigns, 
and is the same God "yesterday, to-day and forever, 
without any variableness or shadow of turning," how 
could some other personage, whether he be His son or 
not, arise up and establish a government upon entirely 
different principles, introducing universal peace and 
love instead of universal war and conflict? 

Doubtless a partial solution of this difficult problem, 
and the best reply that can be made to the query, may 
be found in a careful perusal of the historic results of 
this new government, or new religion, as found upon 
the records of the times from that day to the present. 

We shall find by examination that the Christian 
religion, as well as the Jewish, which is represented to 
be but a prologue to its successor, is based upon the 
same character of antagonisms. First we find an 
offended God, and then an offending manhood — exactly 
two parties, who have somehow entered into this con- 
flict — and this religion proposes a plan by which a 



DISCORDS. 165 

reconciliation can be made between the two antago- 
nistic parties; and it appears this cannot be effected 
without a very general disturbance. The old Jewish 
religion, established by God himself, must be super- 
seded and destroyed; and an innocent being must be 
provided, in a miraculous manner, who is to be bar- 
barously massacred as a sacrificial offering, and then 
somebody says the vindictive wrath of this Father, 
who had been engaged in fighting the battles of the 
Jews for several hundred years past, would be appeased. 
It is a very curious fact, in connection with this strange 
and ridiculous proceeding, that the Jews, the former 
favorite people of this infinite God, are to be made 
instrumental in the production as well as in the assas- 
sination of this victim, in order that a suitable sacrifice 
may be made and offered in a proper manner, so that 
the bloodthirsty appetite and infinite anger of the 
Father might be partially placated. This infinite God 
is made to abandon his warlike government, that he 
established with so much flourish of trumpets amid 
the thunders and lightnings of Mount Sinai, and one 
is set up in direct antagonism to the general principles 
promulgated in the first. The genius of the latter 
institution was to be entirely at variance with that of 
the former; and yet it is claimed that the unchange- 
able Jehovah of the Hebrews still exercises all his 
original authority over the entire human family, and 
that He does not permit so much as a " sparrow to fall 
to the ground without his notice." 

Again, this peaceable religion could not be estab- 
lished without the shedding of blood; thus saith the 
great Apostle to the Gentiles, some one must be 



166 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

slain ; as if the elder Hebrew God, who had been so 
long managing the bloody battles of his chosen people, 
must gratify his insatiable appetite with one more 
victim, as a sort of compromise; and that victim, 
unnatural as it may appear, must be his only begotten 
son. We venture to say that no system of religion 
has ever been reared upon the earth so replete with 
glaring antagonisms, so discordant in its elemental 
structure, so at variance with every harmonious prin- 
ciple, and so ruinously destructive in its results, as the 
popular religion of the present day, adopted in the 
most civilized portions of the globe. This religion 
claims to have been baptized in blood, in order to 
satisfy the anger of a revengeful God, who (if we are 
to accept earthly records concerning His character- 
istics) had ever manifested a sort of fiend-like cruelty 
toward a large portion of His own children, brought 
into existence by himself, as the natural production of 
His own genius and power. 

How can men stand up and declare that the Hebrew 
God is love, when all the history we have concerning 
Him represents Him as cruel and vindictive? This 
history gives an authentic narrative of His utter 
destruction of the entire race by drowning, except one 
favorite family, and after that of His entering into the 
most sanguinary wars against the posterity of this 
favored family; and finally sums up all by terming 
Him emphatically the God of battles. This warlike 
Being was to be conciliated in the establishment of a 
new religion, antagonistic in every feature to the one 
ordained by Himself upon Mount Sinai. His was 
warlike in every sense of that term; but the new one 



DISCORDS. 167 

was to inculcate the principles of peace, love and non- 
resistance, even to enemies. The former taught the 
doctrines of slaughter, with unmitigated wrath, and 
destruction to enemies; the latter teaches love and 
affection for all, enemies as well as friends. The former 
revelled in fierce and bloody Avars; the latter proclaims 
universal peace to the children of men. The one is 
entirely contradictory and antagonistic to the other; 
and it remains to be ascertained by subsequent history 
if the new religion set up in opposition to the old ever 
changed the natural elements which enter into and 
constitute the mental and physical organisms of the 
human race. Have mankind been more peaceful, kind 
and loving, or less combative and warlike, since the 
establishment of this religion upon the earth? Have 
the votaries of this religion manifested any less dispo- 
sition to fight and contend with their enemies than 
others who pay no regard whatever to its ceremonials 
and beliefs? 

A very slight glance at church history will show us 
that not only wars and contentions of the most san- 
guinary character have marked its footsteps since 
Christianity gained any power and influence in the 
world, but that it has added to this an unrelenting, 
fiend-like cruelty, still more desperate than the religion 
of the Hebrews or any other people upon the earth. 

Notwithstanding all the peaceful teachings of a 
Jesus, and those who fall down and worship him, 
claiming to be his followers, they have proved them- 
selves to be the most bloodthirsty, warlike, unrelenting 
monsters that ever disgraced the name of humanity. 
In confirmation of this fact, we need quote but a few 



168 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

passages of history; and that we may not be charged 
with referring to infidel authority, we choose to select 
from an eminent Christian author, who has collated 
from different works very much more than is required 
for our purpose. We may learn from these lessons 
that the various powers and faculties found in man's 
mental organism — the antagonistic elements incor- 
porated into his nature — have in no sense of the word 
been changed or improved by the religion they have 
adopted; but, on the other hand, under the pretense 
of promoting religious principles, these conflicting 
elements have been prostituted to the vilest and most 
barbarous purposes. We may learn that benevolence, 
conscientiousness and veneration exist in the human 
character quite independent of all religious beliefs; 
that they did form a component part of the mental 
structure before religion had an existence, and long 
before the idea of a vicarious atonement entered the 
mind of a single human being. We may also learn 
that no religion ever yet invented has divested the 
intellectual organism in man of combativeness, destruct- 
iveness, acquisitiveness, or any of those powers of 
mind which seem to some persons to be discordant, 
and opposed to the promotion of virtuous and pure 
principles. 

When we take a partial survey of nature's realms, 
and find all things in the universe composed of antag- 
onistic elements, that no living organization can be 
brought into existence unless all the various ingredients 
in nature are introduced into its structure, and that 
man, the grand crowning effort, could by no means 
have been produced unless he had been a microcosm 



DISCORDS. 169 

of all things, we may well wonder at the frivolous, 
unnatural teachings which come to us from some of 
the most eminent minds the world has ever known. 
We may well wonder that the great Christian philoso- 
pher, Doctor Dick, could have had his superior mental 
powers so warped by the religion he adopted as to 
make use of the following language: " Man was origi- 
nally formed after the moral image of his Maker. His 
understanding was quick and vigorous in its percep- 
tions; his will subject to the divine law, and to the 
dictates of his reason; his passions serene and uncon- 
taminated with evil; his affections dignified and pure; 
his love supremely fixed upon his Creator, and his joy 
unmingled with those sorrows which have so long been 
the bitter portion of the race. But the primogenitor 
of the human race did not long continue in the holy 
and dignified station in which he was placed. Though 
he was placed in a garden of delights, surrounded with 
everything that was delicious to the taste and pleasant 
to the eye, yet he dares to violate a positive command 
of his Maker, and stretched forth his hand to pluck 
and taste the fruit of the forbidden tree. The dismal 
effects of the depraved dispositions thus introduced 
among the human species soon became apparent. 
Cain, the first born son of Adam, had no sooner reached 
the years of maturity than he gave vent to his revenge- 
ful passions, and imbued his hands in his brother's 
blood. And ever since the perpetration of this horrid 
and unnatural deed the earth has been drenched with 
blood of thousands and millions of human beings; the 
stream of corruption has flowed without intermission 
in every direction around the globe." 



170 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

How is it possible that the man who could peer so 
far into the broad realms of universal nature, and 
behold so clearly the conflicting elements necessary to 
give motion to all the heavenly bodies in the perform- 
ance of their extended evolutions, and who discovered 
that there were antagonistic powers sufficient to destroy 
worlds and bring others into existence to supply their 
places, could not as easily discover that all these con- 
flicting forces must of necessity be introduced into 
man's organism in order to constitute him a human 
being? How could a mind with such endowments 
have given credence to an ancient legend, and enter- 
tained the idea, that man's complicated organism, as 
he found it, with all its curiously contrived working 
machinery, was the result of eating one particular 
apple instead of some other? 

When we take a rational view of this subject, and 
learn that man is the grand ultimatum of all that can 
be found in nature below him, then it becomes no 
marvel that Cain (if there was such a person) slew his 
brother, or that man has in all ages of the world been 
a warlike, combative being, and that none of the forms 
of religion — not even Christianity, with its peaceable, 
non-resistant doctrines — should put a check upon a 
general exhibition of all these discordant elements so 
thoroughly incorporated into man's nature. Neither 
need we marvel that the various religions have rather 
increased these disturbances and aggravated these 
natural characteristics; and that wars have been more 
fierce and bloody where men's peculiar religious 
beliefs have been made the issue, or any way connected 
with their belligerent contests. 



DISCORDS. 171 

Our author says that " Millot justly remarks of the 
church in the days of Constantine and succeediug 
Emperors : New sects sprung up incessantly and coin- 
batted each other. Each boasted its Apostles, gave its 
sophisms for divine oracles, pretended to be the deposi- 
tory of the faith, and used every effort to draw the 
multitude to its standard. The church was filled with 
discords; bishops anathematized bishops; violence was 
called into the aid of argument, and the folly of princes 
fanned the flame that spread with such destructive 
rage. They played the theologists, attempted to com- 
mand opinions, and punished those whom they could 
not convince. The laws against idolators were soon 
extended to heretics; but what one emperor proclaimed 
as heretical was to another sound doctrine. The pop- 
ular ferments being heightened by the animosity of 
the clergy, prince, country, law and duty were no 
longer regarded. Men were arians, nestorians, etc., 
but no longer citizens; or, rather, every man became 
the mortal enemy of those citizens he condemned. 
This unheard-of madness for irreconcilable quarrels 
never abated amidst the most dreadful disasters. 
Every sect formed a different party in the state, and 
their mutual animosities conspired to sap its founda- 
tions. 

" It is supposed by competent historians who have 
given this subject attention, that over fourteen thou- 
sand million human beings have in one way and 
another fallen victims to the ravages of war, which 
may possibly be a number sufficient to populate four- 
teen worlds of the magnitude and conformation of the 
earth as densely as the one we inhabit." 



172 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

We cannot suppose that all this fearful amount of 
bloodshed, and the terrible barbarity connected with 
its details, have been mishaps, or in any manner 
unforeseen by the controlling powers who projected 
our world, and have so successfully managed its affairs 
since it had an existence. If there has been any mis- 
takes of this character made, then these powers were 
certainly incompetent to undertake the management 
of an enterprise so stupendous as that of building and 
peopling a world with intelligent beings. And yet our 
Christian author exclaims, with great apparent emotion 
and much dissatisfaction, "What a horrible and tre- 
mendous consideration, to reflect that fourteen billion 
beings, endowed with intellectual faculties and fur- 
nished with bodies curiously organized by divine 
wisdom, that the inhabitants of fourteen worlds should 
have been massacred, mangled, and cut to pieces by 
those who were partakers of the same common nature, 
as if they had been created merely for this work of 
destruction! Language is destitute of words suffi- 
ciently strong to express the emotions of the mind 
when it contemplates the horrible scene. And how 
melancholy is it to reflect that in the present age, 
which boasts of its improvements in science, in civili- 
zation, and in religion, neither reason, nor benevolence, 
nor humanity, nor Christianity, has yet availed to 
arrest the progress of destroying armies, and setr a 
mark of ignominy on the people who delight in war." 

The learned doctor with great feeling acknowledges 
himself nonplussed, and that no means has as yet been 
provided or remedy found which seems to exert the 
least influence in correcting this woful mistake that 



DISCORDS. 173 

has occurred somewhere in the oversight and direction 
of the affairs of this earth and its inhabitants. Truly 
we may say that even " Christianity has not yet availed 
to arrest the progress of destroying armies," and it 
would seem, from the present condition of human 
society and the prospects which loom up in the future, 
that the time is very remote when the Christian 
religion will exert any such influence. The conflicting 
elements in human nature are too deeply implanted to 
be removed by any of the forms of religion. 

All the religions that ever existed had their begin- 
ning — they must consummate their purpose, and cease 
to exist; and they will be remembered only as waifs 
upon the great ocean of time, while the eternal 
inwrought elements, embracing all the antagonisms in 
nature which enter into man's organism and constitute 
him the complex being he is, will continue to manifest 
the same round of activities they ever have and are 
exhibiting at the present day. Man is the product of 
just such material as nature afforded; he is endowed 
with his natural, unavoidable characteristics, without 
which he would not be man in any proper sense, and 
no kind of religion can make any absolute change in 
the elements incorporated into his inmost nature, as 
is fully established by the history of the nations of 
the world. 

The most fatally destructive implements of warfare 
which have been introduced into modern combats are 
all the work of Christian people. All the thousand 
inventions that facilitate the destruction of human life, 
and enable men to slay their brothers by scores and 
hundreds instead of singly, are the production of 



174 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

enlightened Christian brains. The repeating rifles, the 
chassepot, needle guns and mitralleuse, the Armstrong, 
the columbiad, and all the different patterns of enor- 
mous and long ranging artillery, are the result of a 
Christian civilization. And if there is any other 
terribly destructive engines calculated to render wars 
more horridly brutal, and destroy human life in a 
more wholesale manner, we are indebted to some 
enlightened Christian of civilized Europe or America 
for their production. No wars have at any period in 
the world's history been as fierce, bloody and destruc- 
tive of human life as the late civil war in the United 
States and the Franco-Prussian war upon the continent 
of Europe. 

We have not space that would permit us to recount 
even a few of the horrid cruelties and butcheries that 
have been instigated by the Christian church from the 
days of Constantine to the present time; the fearful 
array of martyrs who in one way and another have 
fallen victims to the bigotry and superstitions of a 
fanatical Christianity. We cannot enter into the cells 
of the inquisition, overhaul and bring to light the 
various instruments of torture invented by the votaries 
of a religious infatuation; neither can we rake up the 
ashes and dry bones of the martyrs who have suffered 
the most agonizing deaths, inflicted by those who 
claimed to be disciples of the meek and lowly Jesus. 
We are not permitted to recall the terrible slaughter 
of the crusades, and all the other brutal wars instigated 
by this same Christian barbarity and ferocity. We 
must pass by the sickening scenes that occurred at St. 
Bartholomew's, and other Christian massacres quite 



DISCORDS. 175 

as fierce and bloody. The pages of church history are 
filled with these atrocities ; and but for a higher civil- 
ization, entirely disconnected with religious prejudices, 
scenes of a like character would be perpetrated in our 
midst to-day. The religious element was so mingled 
up with the late civil war in the United States that we 
may term it emphatically a Christian war. Long 
before open hostilities were inaugurated the church 
had divided themselves off into sectional parties; those 
south of a certain geographical line promoting the 
interests of slavery with a zeal worthy a better cause; 
while those north were generally quite as strenuously 
engaged in its opposition, showing the very plastic 
nature of the religions they professed, and how easily 
and pliably they yielded to the circumstances in which 
their exponents happened to be placed. The Metho- 
dist church entirely dissevered their connection long 
before any serious difficulties were apprehended; the 
Southern wing taking up the gauntlet, and advocating 
openly the cause of human slavery, while the North 
remained pretty much neutral upon the subject, con- 
ceiving it to be disconnected with their great mission 
of saving the souls of men from the damnation of an 
eternal hell. The other churches, if they came to no 
open disruption, were practically as much divided upon 
this subject as the Methodist. 

Thus the slaveholders of the South were receiving 
during all this long contest, that finally terminated in 
by far the most terribly brutal and destructive civil 
conflict known to the world, the moral support and 
encouragement of all the clergymen who officiated in 
that capacity within their borders, while the opposite 



176 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

doctrines were generally promulgated by the same 
class of men in the North. The people of the South 
were taught by those who were supposed to hold in 
their possession the oracles of divine truth, that human 
slavery was in exact accordance with the instructions 
which had been given to men by God in the Holy 
Scriptures. They were continually impressed with the 
idea by these teachers that the white man had within 
himself an inherent right, bestowed by the Supreme 
Author of his existence, to hold in bondage the black 
man, and convert to his own use the avails of his labor; 
while the people of the North were quite generally 
taught that all men were free and equal, both black 
and white. It was thus that these feuds and animosi- 
ties were augmented by Christian ministerial influence 
until they culminated in the fierce civil conflict in 
which the ministers and professed followers of Christ 
of both parties took such a conspicuous part from its 
commencement until its close. Flags were flying upon 
most of the churches, clergymen harangued the people 
of both parties upon the necessity of engaging in the 
fight, and became general recruiting agents in a certain 
sense, using unremittingly their influence in filling up 
the ranks as they were thinned out by the ravages of 
the most terrific battles known to human warfare. 

All this is but another proof that the conflicting 
elements in man productive of strife and destructive 
wars are indellibly written upon his nature, and 
inwrought into his inmost soul essence; and that they 
cannot be obliterated or removed by any or all the 
religious systems that have been invented by men or 
Gods. 



DISCOEDS. 177 

To suppose that a time will come when the lion and 
the lamb will lie down together, literally or figuratively, 
is to suppose that a time will arrive when the lion will 
not be himself, and that the lamb will not be suitable 
food to gratify his bloodthirsty appetite. It is to con- 
elude the natures of both these animals will be radically 
changed, and that the autho^ of their existence did not 
form them in accordance with his ultimate design, but 
that he intends to reproduce them with entirely differ- 
ent propensities and characteristics. 

The nature of the lion is entirely antagonistic to the 
lamb; he licks his blood and eats his flesh with great 
gusto, and smacks his lips with undoubted satisfaction 
when he has finished his repast; and when hunger 
again returns he industriously searches for other lambs, 
or such like aliment, in order to gratify his appetites 
and sustain his own life. 

The hawk sustains precisely the same relationship 
to the dove, and is always ready when hunger presses 
to make a meal of his innocent neighbor. He has 
within him the combativeness and destructiveness that 
enables him to do this thing; but the dove is entirely 
unable to eat the hawk — as much so as the lamb is 
unable to make a meal of the lordly lion. 

Can it be that the primogenitors of these carniver- 
ous animals and birds of prey were once in a beautiful 
garden, and eat apples contrary to the command of 
God; that they have become so much more wicked 
and abominable in their practices than the innocent 
victims they slay and devour with so little apparent 
compunction? No person would be so foolish as to 
entertain such an idea; then those powers that pro- 
12 



178 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

duced them with these elements in their nature must 
be responsible if there is anything wrong, or that 
requires changing in the least degree. The lion or the 
hawk had no more to do with their original organiza- 
tion than the lamb or the dove; neither bespoke their 
organisms; all were ushered into existence without 
any previous knowledge of what they should be; and 
if there is any just cause of complaint, it rests entirely 
upon those who originated them with their peculiar en- 
dowments. " Can the leopard change his spots, or the 
Ethiopian his skin," or can any beast or bird change 
in any degree their natural characteristics? We shall 
find that all these are a part of the natural universe; 
and that there is no single sentence in any written 
page of the unfolded volume of nature that would 
indicate that they are not in perfect conformity with 
the designs of that wisdom: and power which was able 
to bring them into being. If this is the case with this 
and every other department of nature's productions, 
how can we suppose that this superior being, man, 
who is endowed in a supereminent degree with the 
self same elements, should be an exception to this 
uniform rule? How can we suppose that the organs 
placed within his structure by an intelligence compe- 
tent to produce him, have been remodeled or generally 
disorganized by some subsequent contingency that has 
transpired? Scrutinize him as closely as we please, 
and we can find no such handwriting upon the outer 
or inner walls of his entire organism. There is no 
record in man's nature indicating that he has in any 
period of human history been subjected to any such 
vicissitude; that he has passed any such transforma- 



DISCOEDS. 1T9 

tion since he came upon the stage of existence any- 
more than the lower forms of organized life. Have 
we any respect or veneration for that wisdom which 
was sufficient to plan and project a world as beautiful 
as this, and people it with such multitudes of curiously 
contrived living organisms, and that power which was 
fully competent to execute all the plans in accordance 
with the original design? If we have, how can we 
charge the highly endowed intellectual being or beings 
possessing such marvelous wisdom and power with 
the extreme folly of making such signal blunders in 
regard to the production of man? 

The idea that organs were placed within him which, 
when brought into activity and used for the purposes 
designed by their author, immediately resulted in the 
general demoralization and almost total destruction of 
the entire fabric, has become too puerile and ridiculous 
to be any longer endorsed by an enlightened people. 
Whatever views we may entertain concerning the 
supreme powers which have modified and supervised 
all things thus far in the universe and upon the earth 
we inhabit, it is certainly mean and contemptible in 
the extreme to charge those powers with the incom- 
petency, folly and imbecility of ushering humanity 
into existence in the manner contemplated by the 
Christian's bible, as interpreted by the theology of the 
past and present age. Can we rationally entertain the 
idea that the human race was produced by an infinite 
being, endowed in an infinite manner with the attri- 
butes of knowledge, power, goodness, justice, love, 
mercy, and all things else that constitute Him a 
Supreme God, and that He of His own choice consti- 



180 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

tuted them with weak and feeble organisms, very easily 
tempted and allured ; that He then placed the allure- 
men t before them, commanding them not to eat, when 
He well knew all the time they would eat? Can we 
further suppose this good, just Being cursed His inno- 
cent victims with the most horrible maledictions for 
falling into the trap He had in His infinite wisdom 
set for them, well knowing they would be caught? 

Oh, shame! where is thy blush that intelligent 
men of the present age can entertain such miserably 
vile and abominable ideas of the God they worship and 
adore? How long! oh, how long! shall such ignor- 
ance, folly and superstition maintain their supremacy 
over the civilized portion of the world? How long 
shall reason be stilled and common sense used only in 
commercial transactions, judging the value of horses, 
cattle and other commodities? For reason is most 
certainly entirely ruled out and put to silence by the 
professed Christian when more exalted subjects are 
under consideration; when many things which are to 
be investigated become too spiritualized to come within 
the range of physical vision. 

The strange medley of conflicting absurdities and 
ridiculous antagonisms introduced into the Jewish 
history of man's origin, which is universally accepted 
by the Christian world, proves most conclusively that 
elements of a similar discordant nature must have 
existed in the minds of the authors and publishers of 
this incongruous legend, as well as in all those who 
can adopt it as of divine authority. There is a \ery 
singular appendage to this superlatively inharmonious 
story, for we find that as a prelude it was absolutely 



DISCORDS. 181 

necessary to inaugurate a disastrous civil war in that 
peaceful and quiet abode of rest, the Orthodox heaven, 
where the Christian's God and Jesus, the Holy Ghost 
and all the holy angels, had enjoyed an everlasting 
residence. It is represented, and the idea is quite 
generally adopted, that a very high archangel, who 
exercised great power and influence in this delectable 
habitation among the bright effulgent spirits who sur- 
rounded the throne of the most high God, possessed 
within his soul nature aspirations for higher attain- 
ments — to be more like the God that all worshiped, 
and to extend that power and influence he already 
enjoyed. It has also been taught that this aspiration 
upon the part of the archangel resulted in serious 
jealousies, and finally culminated in a general fight, in 
which the aggressive party commanded about one- third 
of the heavenly host. After a series of skirmishes, 
which are supposed to have taken place within the 
peaceful preludes of this spotless domain, the conflict 
resulted, as might have been expected, in favor of the 
supreme power; and this rebel, together with all his 
followers, were cast out of the joyful realms of eternal 
beatific repose, down into a hideous locality which it 
appears had been prepared and appointed for their 
future residence in exile. Our Christian friends are 
pleased in their great wisdom to term this place hell; 
and here was to be the home of all the unfortunate 
beings who had vainly endeavored to aid the weaker 
party in those terrible conflicts, in which the pure 
angels entered into mortal or immortal combat with 
such a fury as to shake the very throne of the eternal 
Gods. 



182 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

However, it appears that this crowd of vanquished 
angels, who were now transformed into devils, were 
left after being placed in their new quarters pretty 
much to themselves. We do not learn that any vigi- 
lant watch was set over them, but that they were free 
to go and come when they chose, and exert all the 
damaging influence upon the schemes of their old 
enemy, the Supreme God and his party, which experi- 
ence and ingenuity could possibly invent and bring to 
bear. It was said that the commanding General of 
this rebellious host, who, being out upon a kind of 
marauding expedition, came to the beautiful garden, 
that had been prepared with so much care and atten- 
tion for the reception of this innocent pair of turtle 
doves, soon after the fatal command was given that 
ultimated so disastrously to the entire human family. 
He quite dexterously (although he is represented to 
have come in a very "questionable shape") insinuated 
himself into the good graces of this amiable couple, 
and accomplished his hellish purpose with scarcely an 
effort; and as good as destroyed in a few moments, by 
a few seducing, oily sentences, what had required six 
hard days' labor of the infinite God to construct. 
What a terrible oversight upon the part of the con- 
querors in that heavenly conflict, that these individuals, 
who after long experience in a celestial paradise where 
they had access to the very fountain of knowledge, 
should now, in their transformed condition of devils, 
be permitted to roam abroad through the domain of 
the Almighty Sovereign, committing tragic depreda- 
tions of this heinous character upon his handiwork. 
If ordinary common sense had been brought to bear 



DISCORDS. 183 

in this case, the whole crew, together with " Old Nick 
or Clootie," would have been confined — "closed under 
hatches" — and then the human family might to-day 
have been reveling in all the enjoyments of lovely 
gardens, bountifully supplied, not only with the 
choicest fruits, but all that could in any way gratify 
every innocent and undepraved appetite and desire. 
There would have been no fearful foreboding of firey 
indignation and wrath, because if this fabulous story 
contains any shadow of truth, man would not have 
sinned, and would not have been damned, temporarily 
or eternally. 

This fight, however, in accordance with the general 
Christian teachings, between these two belligerent 
parties, God and the devil, has continued through all 
the ages since its first inception until the present day; 
and, as far as our world and its inhabitants are con- 
cerned, it must be admitted that this devil has had by 
far the best of the contest in every battle up to this 
time, with a sure prospect of gaining an overwhelming 
victory at the final termination of all earthly affairs. 

In taking a general survey of this entire matter — 
in traveling analytically over the whole ground — we 
seem to be forced to the conclusion that all this mighty 
array of antagonisms, which are so conspicuously dis- 
played everywhere in nature's works, are inherently 
incorporated into the eternal substance which compose 
all forms of existence, from the least to the greatest — 
from the crudest, most unevolved, to the purest and 
most spiritualized entity that the universe has pro- 
duced. 

We shall also learn that all activities in nature — 



184 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

that every blow of her ponderous hammer, every revo- 
lution of her eternal wheels, every movement of her 
untiring mills which are grinding out all things of a 
visible and invisible character — are entirely dependent 
upon the elements of discord which inheres together 
with all other potencies in every particle of matter or 
indivisible atom of substance from which all things are 
produced. 

It will also be confessed that no organized person- 
ality, whatever may be his state of unfoldment, but 
who must be dependent upon similar atoms for his 
existence as an individual, can by any possibility infuse 
into a single particle of substance this original disposi- 
tion to enter into conflict with some other particle, but 
that this characteristic must have been coeval with the 
atom itself. Neither can he divest any portion of 
substance of that which is inherently incorporated in 
its own nature. 

So we learn that antagonisms are a part and parcel 
of the universe — a necessary existing element, pro- 
ductive of all motion — and that we are indebted to 
this bountiful arrangement for all of progressive 
unfoldment, for every experience of any character 
through which we have passed, and consequently for 
every species of knowledge which has illuminated our 
intellects thus far in our journey upward. 

Divested of this wonderful element in nature, the 
throbbing pulsations of the whole machinery would 
cease; the mighty pendulum of the universe would 
stop its vibrations, the echoes of unceasing activity 
would no more resound through our broad, extended 
vales, but all would resolve itself into the stillness and 
quiescence of sleep and death. 



CHAPTEK V. 

PROGRESSION. 

It is quite generally conceded that there is an element 
of progress intimately connected with all material and 
spiritual things; that nature everywhere exhibits this 
fact, and that in all her varied departments she ulti- 
mates her designs by progressive development. But 
the philosophy of this matter is not so clearly under- 
stood as the fact of its existence. We behold the seed 
germinating, the shoot springing upward, and the root 
downward, leaf after leaf and fiber after fiber being 
added to the plant, until it becomes a stately tree, and 
produces its fruit or furnishes an agreeable shade; and 
yet it is extremely difficult for us to learn how all this 
remarkable work has been accomplished. If we examine 
this matter in its minutest particulars, and watch the 
sap flowing upward from the delicate points of the 
fibrous roots, and distributing itself through the entire 
fabric, furnishing' material for every portion of the 
structure, we obtain but little light upon the subject. 
We simply witness the facts, and are quite left in the 
dark concerning the primal causes productive of these 
grand results. We may witness the unfoldment of 
the animal from its germinal condition with no better 
success. We may learn much about the minute pro- 
cesses of progressive development, but its philosophy 
still appears to be obscure. It seems extremely diffi- 

(185) 



186 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

cult to trace this principle of eternal progress to its 
secret springs, its fountain Lead, and find the original 
causes productive of these marvelous and orderly 
activities throughout all the realms of nature. 

It would appear that progress or change is an 
element or principle inherent in matter, and that 
through all its modifications and various conditions 
this element manifests itself in the production of the 
marvelous results that we behold scattered around us 
so profusely. If this element did not exist in material 
substance, it would be worse than useless for the hus- 
bandman to consign his seed to the earth with any 
expectation of a bountiful harvest, because the seed 
wonld remain in the same condition throughout all 
time. It would be equally vain to plant a tree or 
make any attempt at the production of anything 
belonging to the vegetable or animal kingdom, for the 
utmost that man can do is to plant the seed and make 
conditions as favorable as possible, and then leave 
nature to accomplish all the rest. 

The principle of growth or progressive development 
must be an element contained in the material evolved, 
as this jDrinciple cannot manifest itself independent of 
material substance. Matter is evidently capable of 
passing through all the variety of modifications, from 
the finest, most sublimated essence, to the gross par- 
ticles of the granite rock, and of being changed into 
all the million forms of vegetable and animal life, 
until it culminates in the " human form divine; " and 
all this capability must arise from the fact of inherent 
powers existing within the material particle or the 



PROGRESSION. 187 

infinitesimal atom, of which all the aggregations of 
material substance are composed. 

We find ourselves existing upon a huge accretion of 
matter we call a globe, floating in the interminable 
regions of space; that we are surrounded by material 
forms of every possible shape, and an inconceivable 
variety of conditions and dimensions, and that change, 
or the element of progressive unfoldment, is indellibly 
stamped upon every particle of matter we behold in all 
these varied forms and conditions. We find, also, that 
material substance is capable, by some law or element 
inherent in itself, of changing from the coarser to the 
finer or from the finer to the coarser; that the grosser 
material particles may be dissolved, and the finest 
essences eliminated therefrom, and that the finest 
essences may be solidified and assume various visible 
forms. 

The observer of nature may continually behold these 
processes taking place all around him. He may see 
everywhere solid substances subjected to the processes 
of decay and dissolution, while others are being built 
up from the most etherealized essences. The bravest 
ship that floats may be changed by the destructive 
element we call fire to invisible essences, while nature 
is continually converting similar invisible essences 
into the forests and other materials from which more 
ships can be constructed ; and material substance, in 
one way or another, is constantly undergoing all these 
modifications and changes, else how could all these 
thousand different forms be constructed? How could 
material be molded into the form of the horse or the 
majestic tree unless it was first reduced to an ethereal- 



188 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

ized condition, so that the various particles could take 
their respective places by virtue of the potencies inher- 
ently attached to the particles themselves? 

It appears quite strange that nature has a process 
by which she is converting various elements in the 
mineral kingdom into wheat, corn and other vegetable 
productions; and that she also has a process by which 
she again converts the finer elements of these vege- 
tables into the bones, muscles and various filaments 
that compose the superstructure of the horse or other 
animal. Yet all this is constantly taking place before 
our eyes, and we become so familiar with the fact of 
these continual changes and evolutions of material 
substances, that they attract scarcely the least atten- 
tion ; yet they are positive proof that there has been 
from all eternity a principle or element connected with 
the infinitesimal atoms of which all matter is composed, 
productive of all these changes and all this evolution. 

Then we may very readily conceive that the entire 
material of which the globe is constructed may, and 
even must, have passed through multitudinous trans- 
formations, and that the solidified portion must have 
been in an extremely etherealized or a rarefied condi- 
tion in order to be molded into its present form ; and 
this idea is very generally adopted by the philosophers 
of the present day. As the globe in its present solid- 
ified form occupies a well defined amount of space, the 
material of which it is composed in that etherealized 
condition must have diffused itself through a very 
much larger extent of this space ocean. The earth 
now being in a progressed condition, the material having 
passed through various evolutions in order to assume 



TEOGKESSION. 189 

its present form, this same material must at some time 
have been in a very crude, unprogressed state. In 
fact, if the term progression means anything, and it is 
found to be an element inseparably blended with all 
material substance, then it extends from the very 
lowest possible condition in which matter may be 
found to the most exalted position it can possibly 
occupy — from the deepest darkness of chaotic confu- 
sion to the most brilliant displays of supernal glory of 
which the loftiest intelligent being can entertain the 
least conception. 

What mind shall be able to penetrate into the mid- 
night darkness of this illimitable space ocean in which 
all of matter has existed from the eternities which have 
preceded? Who shall venture out into the depths of 
this eternal night of death and coldness, and awake the 
echoes which have never yet resounded? Is the uni- 
verse finished, or is all the crude inactive material in 
the interminable elemental ocean exhausted, or in an 
advanced state of evolution? Is there no more work 
of this character to be done, or is there no more unoc- 
cupied territory upon which worlds and systems of 
worlds shall be erected and shine forth in all their 
beauty and glory? 

We trust that it is quite obvious that the ever- 
rolling cycles of the future shall present the same busy 
scenes of activity as those which have unfolded uni- 
versal nature up to its present magnificence; that 
matter will be still undergoing all its various changes 
and progressive evolutions, and that the field of opera- 
tions is sufficiently broad to last through all the 
unceasing ages that must yet transpire. 



190 THE GOSPEL OF NATUEE. 

The material from which all the vast retinue of 
worlds that constitute the innumerable planetary sys- 
tems of the sideral heavens, once existed in this vast 
elemental ocean of space; and it evidently has been as 
diffusive, and far more evanescent, than the atmosphere 
we breathe; and yet these crude rarefied material 
atoms, after having existed in a state of inactivity and 
slumbering death for myriads of eternities, have been 
wakened into newness of life. This cold, lifeless, ethe- 
real matter must have contained within itself the 
element of progress in a latent condition, so that the 
power of unfoldment was innate in the most infinitesi- 
mal particle. Thus through all the innumerable 
metamorphoses to which matter is subjected, this 
progressive element manifests itself, until the indi- 
visible particle is ultimated to the highest possible 
throne of glory. 

There evidently is no wisdom or power in the 
universe that could have produced one of this vast 
multitude of worlds that adorn the over-arched canopy, 
and seem to be teeming with life and animation, and 
which are doubtless subserving the highest purposes 
for which worlds are projected and ultimated, unless 
every minute particle of which they are composed had 
been impregnated or permeated by this same progres- 
sive element or force; and this force must have been 
as eternal as the matter itself. 

The human mind is entirely incapable of entertain- 
ing any rational conception of the unfoldment or 
ultimation of an organized intelligent being, possessing 
wisdom and power sufficient to endow these primal 
particles with all the elements which they necessarily 



PROGRESSION. 191 

possess, previous to the existence of the particles. 
But we ma j very clearly perceive that no such organi- 
zation could have existed previously, because what is 
not composed of the elementary particles is nothing. 
Then such being must have been dependent upon this 
etherealized atomic substance for his organic existence; 
and he could not possibly have attained to the least 
degree of intelligence unless the particles to which he 
was indebted for that which constituted him an intelli- 
gent being were permeated with this principle of pro- 
gressive unfoldment. 

There is evidently one universal law by which an 
intellectual individualized being can be produced, no 
.natter what the character of that being, or at what 
[ eriod in the ever rolling eternities he came into exist- 
ence; and no one individualized being could have had 
any more control over the elemental constituents of 
the particles upon which he has depended for his con- 
tinued existence than another. All have been subjected 
to the same law; all have been organized upon the 
same principle. They have changed from one condi- 
tion to another by precisely similar processes; traveled 
up the same road; and all have been dependent upon 
the peculiar character of the infinitesimal atoms which 
have existed in their crude undeveloped state in the 
vast elemental ocean of space. It is then clear that no 
mineral, plant, animal, man, or any higher order of 
intelligent beings, could have been produced unless the 
constituent elements necessary to their production had 
previously existed in every particle of the substance 
of which they are composed, or which may enter into 
their composition during all their future changes and 



192 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

transformations. We discover that a progressed intel- 
lect is an ultimate, not a primate; that it is in every 
instance a production, and that there can be no excep- 
tions. "We cannot conceive of an infinite mind, or any 
order of mind, unless it was unfolded — unless it was 
preceded by causes that might ultimate in such a com- 
plicated piece of machinery; but we may very readily 
conceive that a crude particle, with all the powers 
latent in itself by which all things are worked, might 
have eternally existed, and must have preceded all or- 
ganizations, whether they may appear to be material 
or spiritual; and that both spirit and matter (as both 
are one) have existed without any commencement 
and must so exist in some of their varied forms with- 
out end. 

If all things are eternal, then there was no period 
when nature's problems commenced being solved, or 
when crude material was not ultimated into higher 
organizations, and when some portions of the machi- 
nery of the universe was not in active operation the 
same as other portions are to-day, because there can be 
no commencement to eternity. If there was a begin- 
ning it would not be eternity, but simply a fragment 
of time.* 

One period in the illimitable cycles of time can only 
differ from another from the fact that matter which is 
now quiescent and apparently not living will at some 
time assume its life and activities, and some portion 
of that which is active or living will become inert, and 
take the place of that which awakes to newness of life. 
Thus these changes from the positive to the negative, 
and vice versa, must continually take place; for if 



PROGRESSION. 193 

all was death there could be no life, and if all was life 
that certainly could not subsist, because life can only 
be sustained by death. 

The atomic particles which constitute a world must 
be in all possible conditions, else none could progress; 
some must be lower in order to sustain those which 
are higher. If matter is thus diffusive, and may have 
existed in a vast elemental ocean, and is composed of 
indivisible particles, then this mass must be homoge- 
neous, and each particle must be an epitome or micro- 
cosm of the whole, or each indivisible atom must 
possess within itself capabilities of ultimating as high 
as any other. Hence, we discover that all elements or 
properties which exist in the whole must exist in the 
least, that all the antagonisms and other peculiarities 
that are found in the whole must exist to a certain 
extent in the atom, and that each one is a part and 
parcel — a miniature — of the whole universe. It con- 
tains within itself the positive and negative, the male 
and female, the principles of life and death, of darkness 
and light, and all other elements exhibited in nature. 
Hence it becomes so susceptible to the laws of pro- 
gressive unfoldment, because these laws are embodied 
within itself, and are inseparably connected with it 
through all its innumerable changes of condition. 

If the smallest particle of the Pacific, or any other 
ocean, contains the same elements as the whole, because 
it is all one homogeneous mass, how much more should 
this be the case with the great elemental ocean found 
in the illimitable extent of space, where matter is so 
much more diffusive and rarefied than the globules of 
water? If, then, every particle of material substance is 
13 



194: THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

so thoroughly impregnated with all the elements we 
behold exhibited in the universe, the wonderful phe- 
nomena which are constantly taking place around us 
becomes more simplified. If life and death both exist 
as a principle or element in every particle of substance 
of which we are composed, it is not a matter of so 
much surprise that our physical systems manifest all 
the activities of life to-day, and that they should lie in 
the quiet repose of death to-morrow. If all the varied 
powers really exist in the minute particles, it is no 
marvel that they should exhibit themselves in such an 
infinite variety of phases, take on such multitudinous 
forms, and display such supereminent mechanism in 
their varied productions. 

If life and death, and all other elements in nature, 
exist in every minute particle of the seed, it is not 
surprising that it may be cast into that great womb 
of nature, the earth, pass through the shadows of 
death, and awake to newness of life in a form that 
shall reproduce of its own kind a hundred fold. There 
are evidently powers in the infinitesimal atoms com- 
posing the seed capable of unfolding in this manner, 
and producing these grand results; yet they are but 
the ultimate of those atoms which once existed in the 
universal ocean of crude material, without being elab- 
orated to the least possible extent, and only possessed 
those powers in a perfectly latent condition. What 
an infinitude of processes must these seed particles 
have passed through from their crudest, most unde- 
veloped condition in the great sea, or " deep," before 
they could exhibit the wonderful reproductive elements 
contained in the kernel of wheat or corn; and where 



PROGRESSION. 195 

shall this unfoldment or this progression terminate 
except in the most elevated conditions? The seed 
particles under proper conditions can surely perform 
evolutions, by virtue of powers within them, that can- 
not be performed by those of granite rock or of any 
other portion of the mineral kingdom. How could 
they have obtained such powers except by progression, 
since all particles once existed alike in the crudest 
possible state? And how could they have progressed 
unless such powers had been inherent within jfchem ? 

The particles contained in these kernels being in the 
vegetable kingdom, must necessarily have progressed 
entirely through the mineral ; they must have passed 
through a great variety of modifications in the king- 
dom below in order to have ultimated in their present 
more advanced status — in order to obtain the powers 
they possess of germinating and reproducing their own 
kind in such a marvelous manner. 

There must relatively be a very great distance 
between the crudest molecule and that which has 
ultimated in the seed of the tree or plant; and it is 
impossible to conceive that matter has taken all this 
stride at a single bound. We are forcibly impressed 
with the idea — nay, it is established beyond a doubt 
■ — that those which, the tree or plant aggregates to 
itself must have been prepared for this condition by 
innumerable changes before they could possibly ulti- 
mate in the fruit or the seed. The tree has no power 
to manufacture apples from the unelaborated granite, 
although that may have ultimated from atoms in an 
inconceivably lower state of unfoldment; yet without 
doubt the particles of granite have within them 



196 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

elements in a latent condition that may at some time 
be elaborated into suitable food, both for the tree and 
the fruit it produces. What almost interminable ages 
must have passed before the mineral kingdom could 
have arrived to that condition in which matter was 
sufficiently progressed or evolved to produce the vege- 
table! Nevertheless, the period arrived when the 
necessary elements were ultimated in the mineral, and 
they naturally sought a higher evolution into the 
vegetable, and it then became as natural for a plant to 
shoot forth as it previously had been for any mineral 
production to take form. 

It would not appear to be necessary that the entire 
mineral kingdom should ultimate to its highest state 
of perfection before vegetation could have made its 
appearance, only that it should so far evolve as to 
furnish the required nutrition upon which the plants 
could subsist; and those plants, of course, must have 
been of the crudest character. Neither was it neces- 
sary for the vegetable kingdom to ultimate to a high 
state before there were found elements from which the 
lower orders of the animal kingdom might be unfolded; 
but whenever material was so elaborated as to contain 
elements suitable, then animal life must be the neces- 
sary result, and such formations were evolved from the 
vegetable as naturally as the vegetable was evolved 
from the mineral. Each must have appeared in regular 
succession, and by the easiest possible gradations, the 
higher constantly developed from and subsisting upon 
the- lower — the vegetable drawing nutriment from the 
mineral, and the animal from the vegetable. Animal 
life could not have been sustained from elements drawn 



PROGRESSION. 197 

directly from the mineral; they must first have been 
elaborated by passing through or into the vegetable 
before they could have become nutriment for this 
higher order of existence. All organizations must 
proceed from and subsist upon that which is below 
them, but they cannot obtain the elements of subsist- 
ence only in that which assimilates to their own 
natures; hence there is a limit beyond which neither 
plant or animal can obtain the required nutriment. 
The plant may extend its fibrous roots into the earth 
and find sustenance, which, being elaborated, sustains 
the animal, which may afford exceedingly nutritions 
food for the man; and thus all are supplied by this 
process of elaboration, and all this has been extracted 
from the mineral. All atomic particles have been 
wonderfully progressed by passing through these 
varied processes, as they are thus prepared to enter 
into still higher phases of existence. It cannot be 
doubted, then, that the elements contained in the food 
we eat have passed through innumerable processes, and 
that they have been eaten very many times before they 
come to us, else they would not be adapted to our 
tastes or suited to our wants. The food must be as 
much benefited as the organization that appropriates 
it to itself as sustenance. The small fish which is 
eaten by the larger doubtless receives more benefit 
than the larger one who has regaled himself and 
satiated his appetite upon his less bulky neighbor, 
because the spiritual element in the smaller has been 
set free, and thus permitted to take another step in 
the interminable ladder of progression. 

All material substance that has come into a condi- 



198 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

tion that it may subserve the purposes of sustenance 
for any portion of the vegetable or animal kingdoms, 
is evidently elaborated and progressed by being used 
in that manner. The ethereal substance that passes 
from the mineral kingdom into the tree and becomes 
solidified into the libers of the indurate oak, are cer- 
tainly advanced by this transformation. The elements 
contained in the insect or worm that was eaten by the 
chicken are very much improved by this change, for 
they now become suitable food for man, while in their 
former condition he turned from them with loathing. 
And we discover the curious fact that the party who 
was eaten was the recipient of far more than the one 
who eat, because the eater was only benefited physi- 
cally, while the other has been permitted to advance 
spiritually, and the material particles composing its 
body have been further elaborated also. 

We say the spirit of the tree, the bird or insect, or 
any other materialized form that has an existence, 
because it is impossible for any such form to exist 
independent of the corresponding spiritual essence. 
If this point is not sufficiently established, we may 
inquire what that power is in these things which give 
to them all their peculiarities and capabilities; what 
that force which permeates the tree and renders it 
capable of extracting from the earth the sustenance 
upon which it feeds, and of distributing that susten- 
ance into the several parts where it is most needed. 
How does the tree seem to possess the ability of dis- 
criminating between the material suited to go down to 
the roots and that adapted to the formation of the 
branches and leaves, or that prepared to ultimate into 



PROGRESSION. 199 

flowers, fruit and seed? There is a power here that 
evidently controls all this matter the same as in man 
or the animal; and although in all these cases its 
activities may be involuntary, who shall say that these 
are not the powers put forth by the spirit of the tree. 
There is no more power in the horse or in the man to 
distribute the particles of which they are composed in 
an orderly and proper manner than there is in the tree. 
Then we must admit that the same divinity exists in 
one as in the other, only not so far progressed. There 
must inevitably be a spirit in the tree endowed with 
all the functions necessary for the growth, preservation 
and well being of the fabric, just adapted to that con- 
dition of unfoldment, the same as in all things else; 
and that spirit is ultimating in the tree preparatory to 
taking one step higher when it is yielded up by this 
materialized form. 

All the material of which the tree is formed is 
evidently progressed to a state very far in advance of 
the coarse particles contained in the limestone or the 
granite; and all these materials, from the inmost soul 
essence of the tree to the gross particles of the bark, 
are prepared to go forward in the vast round of evolu- 
tion. As nothing can be lost — and it must be far 
easier to produce something higher from material in 
this state than from that which is more gross and 
unprogressed — we cannot doubt but the spiritual 
power in the tree rises to a higher manifestation of 
itself in some superior form. All there is, both of 
spiritual and material character, comes from the great 
elemental ocean of substance, for what is not substance 
is nothing. There being no law which will produce 



200 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

something from nothing, then all things, everywhere, 
must have been unfolded from something; and as all 
things are composed of infinitesimal particles, that 
which is not so composed is nothing. 

The infinitesimal particle, then, must be the base 
of all spiritual, as well as material, existence under- 
lying the foundations of all human philosophy; and 
if life, motion, and all other elements or potencies and 
possibilities, are found existing in the whole, then the 
same qualities exist in the least separate parts, as such 
qualities cannot at any time during the varied pro- 
cesses of unfoldment be introduced by any extraneous 
power whatsoever. 

AVe have found that intellects were progressive, and 
if so, they must progress from the extreme lowest to 
the extreme highest, and that the lowest must exist in 
the least or most infinitesimal point of material sub- 
stance in the crudest state, as there could be nothing 
lower. 

We also find that the source of independent life and 
motion can only be found in individualized entities; 
that where these two properties exist in such entity or 
being they must inhere in every separate atom of 
which such being is composed, as it would be utterly 
impossible to produce a being possessed of those 
elements from substance or atoms which possess no 
such properties of motion or life within them. Most 
assuredly whatever being is produced from dead 
matter will be dead to all intents, and any motion or 
ap£>arent life that is infused into any of its parts must 
proceed from exterior forces. Then it becomes very 
clear that every minute particle of which independent, 



PROGRESSION. 201 

living, moving beings are composed must be inde- 
pendent, living, moving entities; for these properties 
could by no means be infused into the being which has 
been produced unless they pre-existed in the infini- 
tesimal atoms that have entered into the composition 
of this self-moving, living being, which is but an 
aggregation of other entities extremely minute in their 
proportions. We arrive, then, at this grand conclu- 
sion, that all particles which are indivisible are entities 
endowed with the principles or properties of inde- 
pendent life and motion; that they are positive or 
negative, active or inactive, as the case may be; and 
that they are spiritual entities in consequence of their 
infinitesimal character or their superlative fineness; 
that the only possible difference between material and 
spiritual is that the one is an aggregation of minute 
particles or entities in a negative or inactive condition, 
the other a sublimation, or the essential element, of 
the same particles in a state of positive activity. 

It seems quite evident that the more inactive or 
negative, the more gross and materialized these entities 
or minute particles may become in their aggregations; 
and that the more positive or active, the more refined 
and spiritualized they may become. So that the spir- 
itualized or sublimated essences are capable of great 
velocity and expansion, while the gross substances are 
apparently inert, and subjected to the most extreme 
immobility. However, there can be no such thing as 
absolute death to any entity, as that would be equiva- 
lent to destruction; and, as no such thing can occur 
with any single particle, this state of repose or inac- 
tivity must some time be succeeded by a positive or 



202 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

active state. Thus this death is as valuable as life, for 
out of it comes a higher life — the dissolution called 
death permitting the finer or more spiritualized essence 
to escape. 

We may now discover that the only possible method 
of elaborating these crude entities, and passing them 
on to higher conditions, is through this materializing 
process; they must first, after being attracted from the 
vast elemental space ocean, pass into the lowest condi- 
tion of materialization, as they are only adapted to that 
purpose. The substances which exist in the universal 
ocean must necessarily be in a state of darkness, cold- 
ness, inactivity and apparent death; they are negative 
to the last degree, and whatever powers they have 
within them are in an entirely latent condition. Of 
course whatever is produced directly from them must 
correspond with the character of that which enters into 
the composition. If granite rock is the most unevolved 
form of materialization, then we may say these crude 
entities are only suited to produce that substance; and 
by certain processes they are associated into this form, 
and thus remain until by a dissolution of the granite 
the finer essences or entities are permitted to escape 
and rise into higher conditions, while the residue may 
enter into some of the later formations or sedimentary 
rocks. 

We have said in the Hollow Globe that these unde- 
veloped, crude, negative particles or entities were 
assembled in the form of a hollow sphere or shell, and 
that the portion of the shell midway between the two 
surfaces was still in this cold negative condition, or 
that it existed in the form of solidified electricity in a 



PROGRESSION. 203 

perfectly inactive state. We have used the term 
Belisma to express this condition of the great mass of 
entities which are there passing their long night of 
repose, preparatory to a higher development; and we 
may safely conclude that we find these entities in every 
possible condition of advancement, from this to the 
most exalted of which the human mind can form the 
least conception. Then it may appear that the great 
business of worlds, and the grand object for which they 
are constructed, is the nnfoldment of the entities which 
are the infinitesimal particles of which the worlds are 
composed; for we may very easily discover that all 
things of an objective character attached to the worlds, 
whether we call them material or spiritual, are con- 
stituted and formed by an association of these particles 
in some of their conditions of unfoldment. And in 
every instance we shall find the more spiritual per- 
meating the grosser or more materialized, thus becom- 
ing a force, and producing activities which manifest 
themselves in accordance with the nature of the 
material organization. 

Human ingenuity has produced telescopes that 
enable men to peer out into the broad universe incon- 
ceivably further than the unaided vision; and still 
they behold orb beyond orb and sun beyond sun, and 
by analogy it may well be supposed that no amount 
of telescopic power could carry the vision beyond the 
nearer of these systems of worlds. They have also 
prepared lenses of immense microscopic power, through 
which may be discovered animalculse many thousand 
times smaller than can be discerned by the natural 
eye, and yet they find no termination to living organ- 



204 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

ized entities. The more powerful the lens, the more 
of minute animal life it brings to view. Who is pre- 
pared to say, then, that anything less than the culmi- 
nation of all telescopic power would be able to reach 
the boundaries of the universal worlds, or that the 
same character of microscopic power would not be 
required to discern the most infinitesimal living entity? 
And who can doubt the ultimatum of all magnifying 
lenses might reach the indivisible point of material 
substance, which would be the most infinitesimal 
entity, and which is the only thing in nature contain- 
ing within itself an idea of absolute unity and primeval 
life essence. 

We do not conclude that physical man will be 
enabled to produce telescopic lenses which may extend 
our vision to the remotest boundaries of congregated 
worlds, or microscopic lenses possessing similar powers; 
but that there- may be somewhere in the universe 
lenses of such power, composed of finer essences and 
manipulated by more advanced genius, we can scarcely 
entertain a doubt. We have remarked that motion, 
life, and all other elements manifested in an aggrega- 
tion of material particles, must exist in the particles 
themselves; for we cannot conceive it possible that a 
live organism can be produced from dead matter, and 
there must be visions somewhere sufficiently intensified 
to behold, scan, and scrutinizingly inspect the most 
infinitesimal particle in order to learn its real nature. 
For how shall intellectual beings progress to a knowl- 
edge of the nature of all organisms unless they are 
possessed of a vision that will enable them to discover 



PROGRESSION. 205 

the true character of the least particle which enters 
into the composition of such organic structure? 

The paramount difficulty in the way of our investi- 
gation of subjects of this character is the limited range 
of our vision. The gross nature of the material of 
which the physical eye is composed renders it impos- 
sible for human vision to extend beyond a compara- 
tively narrow range; it only reaches to a very small 
compass of what constitutes the great universe; it is 
precisely adapted to our limited capacities and sphere 
of action, and no doubt subserves our purposes far 
better in this our condition than one of greater power. 
Still we may readily discover that a more intensified 
vision, or one that would enable us to discern the least 
atom, and see clearly the true character of the remotest 
heavenly bodies, would very greatly facilitate the solu- 
tion of many problems in nature which now remain 
exceedingly obscure and enigmatical. 

We cannot doubt that vision, like all other things 
in nature, is progressive; that there must be those 
which are almost infinitely in advance of our own in 
power and comprehension, and that the power of the 
particular vision would depend upon the unfoldment 
or spiritualization of the person who has it in posses- 
sion. A spiritual vision, or the eye of a harmoniously 
progressed spiritual being, must be far superior to a 
physical eye, because the material of which it is com- 
posed is more sublimated ; hence their advantages over 
our own in the investigation of the more abstruse 
problems. The admission of the possibility of a vision 
vastly superior to our own, is but an admission that 
there is a vast universe entirely beyond our reach 



206 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

that requires such an eye to behold its beauties and 
grandeur. 

If we concede the possibility of an interchange of 
thought between the more spiritualized being who 
may be endowed with the superior vision, and physical 
man, who is not, we shall readily conclude that they 
might unfold to our view an approximate nature of 
those objects beyond our reach; and such is doubtless 
the case. Still it would be necessary that the mind 
should be educated in the philosophy of what is 
revealed before it can become receptive of any new 
truth, or be able to comprehend its nature. It will 
be of little use, then, for spiritual beings to present 
this or any other theory to man until his ability to 
discover from the analogies in nature that the theory 
presented is well sustained by substantial evidence. 

It is quite impossible for human vision to penetrate 
the infinitesimal realms, even by any factitious aids 
they may bring to bear, sufficiently to determine the 
nature of the most sublimated particle; and it would 
seem quite possible that some orders of spiritual 
beings may have that power; nay, we cannot doubt 
their ability to scan the last point of substance and 
to comprehend its true character. Then it would 
appear evident that if we obtain any accurate knowl- 
edge of what lies in this direction beyond the reach 
of all the arts human ingenuity can bring to bear, we 
must obtain it from this source, or we must remain in 
ignorance. 

Here seems to be an extended field of research, 
where philosophers have only penetrated to find uncer- 
tainty and darkness. Here lies the confines between 



PROGRESSION. 207 

the real and the unreal of Schelling, Herbert Spencer's 
region of the unknowable; it is the great fountain 
where all that is knowable has originated — the vast 
department of nature where philosophy gropes in 
darkness, and from whence science brings unsatisfac- 
tory conclusions. Here is where they have placed 
forces and materials in one homogeneous mass, and 
each has separated them as best he could. Here in 
this region of the infinitesimal the elements entering 
into the protoplasm of Huxley existed before it was 
organized, and took its place in the interior cells of 
the nettle's sting; and here is where may be gathered 
the particles sufficiently minute to compose the retina 
of the least animalcule's eye. This is the realm where 
the materialist has found nothing, and directly beyond 
this the religious, bible and Jesus worshiping philoso- 
pher discovers his immaterial substance from which 
he manufactures the souls of men, a few of whom are 
going up to sit upon immaterial seats in the Orthodox 
heaven, and play forever upon harps made without 
hands from nothing, performing all the functions of 
living organized beings, while they and all their sur- 
roundings* are but the most shadowy, unsubstantial 
unrealities. 

This immaterial matter is evidently the very article 
from which they have imagined all things of a spiritual 
character were manufactured ; of which their God and 
devil, heaven and hell, angels and ghosts, holy and 
unholy, are all composed. Doubtless some such 
elementary nothing was that to which the churchmen 
allude in the creed, when they say the " Father, Son 
and Holy Ghost are all of one substance," and that 



208 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

they are all " without body or parts." Notwithstanding 
the religions world have considered all spiritual things 
so perfectly unreal, yet from all time, and even to 
the present, they have provided spiritual organizations 
with enormous and unsightly wings, as if to buoy them 
upon an atmosphere less dense than themselves; and 
finally, to cap the climax of all absurdities, they pro- 
pose to resurrect the material bodies of all that have 
lived, and reunite them with the unreal, ^inappreciable 
spirit that was severed when death transpired, and 
then they propose to sustain this materialized body, 
after being restored to activity, in an unreal, unmate- 
rialized heaven or hell, to all eternity, upon nothing. 
These religious savans, with all their pretended knowl- 
edge in regard to spiritual affairs, with all their learn- 
ing and research and boasted acquirements in this 
direction, have evidently been wandering in a maze of 
darkness in regard to this whole subject, to which they 
have turned their special attention. The epicurean 
philosophers who indorsed the atomic theory nearly 
three hundred years before Christ, and who ascertained 
the great fact that all, both spiritual and physical, 
must be composed of distinct particles, only inferred 
from this that all would return into the great realm 
of atoms again; and that the best we could do with 
life was to make the most of it, and enjoy it in accord- 
ance with our highest wisdom while it lasted. 

It is quite evident that no class of thinkers have 
ever yet penetrated this realm of the infinitesimal, and 
came back laden with those truths which would solve 
the great problem of our origin and ultimate destiny. 
It is also evident that a little beyond the realm of the 



PROGRESSION. 209 

so-called material lies a vast open field of research, 
hitherto quite unexplored; but that the time must 
come when human intellects shall be permitted to 
enter there and gather that which will elucidate the 
earlier portions of our eternal history, and show us 
something more definite concerning the innumerable 
gradations through which we have progressed in order 
to obtain the experiences of which we are now pos- 
sessed. 

In this age of universal inquiry we evidently stand 
more in need of a knowledge of what this realm con- 
tains than at any previous period; and we cannot 
doubt that the needs of humanity must be supplied in 
this respect. Ideas or thoughts have always, in all 
ages of the world, found some minds in which they 
could be entertained at the precise time when they 
were required or could be appreciated, and when they 
could render efficient aid to the human family by their 
progressive tendency. This is a part of the philosophy 
of progression; and this is why men can appreciate 
many thousand ideas to-day that were not compre- 
hended in the least degree fifty years in the past, and 
why they will appreciate many thousand more fifty 
years in the future, now entirely unknown to the most 
highly cultivated intellect. 

The time arrived in the history of civilization when 
men desired to travel more rapidly than the old lum- 
bering stage coach was wont to move; in fact, the 
increasing demands of business made it a necessity, 
and some mind who was prepared received a few 
thoughts concerning a locomotive engine and an iron 
track upon which it might run. Thus from these 
14 



210 THE GO PEL OF NATURE. 

crude, partially digested ideas which entered the intel- 
lect of the first individual whose attention was directed 
into this unknown mechanical field, has ultiniated all 
the facilities for traveling over a net-work of railroads 
which have extended themselves throughout nearly all 
civilized countries. The same demand existed for a 
more speedy transmission of intelligence, and the 
intellect of a Morse was prepared to entertain the 
thought of sending it upon the electric wire; and thus 
these great powers — caloric, vapor, magnetism and 
electricity — are subjected to human control, and made 
to do man's bidding in a manner that was not con- 
ceived of by those who lived a hundred years ago ; and 
yet every thought in connection with these forces and 
their application we well know have existed from the 
eternities which had no commencement. 

The time has arrived in the history of human pro- 
gression when great multitudes of men and women 
demand to know more of the true character of their 
own previous history than was ever taught by the 
priest or the philosopher. They demand that this 
page in the great volume of nature should be opened, 
so that they may behold the record inscribed thereon, 
and learn for themselves something of their antece- 
dents. They demand that knowledge which will bring 
emancipation from church, creed and priest. Multi- 
tudes are looking in this as well as other directions 
for light — a light that will bring freedom from the 
servile bondage they have so long endured. 

Men have traced themselves back to immateriality, 
or back to an infinite God ; or they have learned that 
mentally and physically they have been developed 



PROGRESSION. 211 

from a very small beginning, and there the research 
has ended; they have left the whole matter in the 
hands of the minister, or else in the dark gulf of 
oblivion. But we trust the time has arrived when 
men are to know from whence they have been thus 
unfolded, and to understand the philosophy of that 
progression which has attended them during their 
eternal journey upward, and which has ultimated them 
to their present condition. That by a simple process 
of ratiocination they may learn the different steps in 
the ladder through which they have come to be men, 
and acquire some knowledge of those conditions they 
may enter when they lay down the physical. 

We may safely assert that if we adopt the hypo- 
thesis that all indivisible or atomic particles are living 
entities, capable of unfoldment, and passing through 
infinite experiences, we shall throw a flood of light 
upon innumerable phenomena which are now dark and 
perfectly inexplicable. 

We cannot tell, upon any principle of philosophy 
now known, what makes the grass grow or the wind 
blow; why one tree in the same soil should grow into 
a beech, and the other into a maple or a pine; why one 
rose should be red and another white, or how material 
can possibly form itself into a rose or an apple; only 
we say it is done by a law of nature. 

We cannot tell why oxygen or either of the gasses 
are what they appear, or where they came from, or in 
what they may finally ultimate; neither has philosophy 
informed us why and how any of the simple substances 
have ultimated and become such, or from what they 
originated. Science is but a classified array of demon- 



212 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

strable facts respecting all those things upon which it 
treats, and which are known to exist in the various 
departments of nature; it gives us no information con- 
cerning their remotest origin. But when the mind is 
permitted to scan the great sea — the vast elemental 
ocean of entities — we may obtain a gleam of light; 
when we find here are entities quite sufficient to enter 
into the composition of all worlds, and that this is 
what they require in order to be unfolded or developed, 
we begin to arrive at something tangible, we begin to 
get a foothold — a starting point — a place where we 
may commence to look around us. 

The nebulous theory — the most popular idea of the 
day concerning the structure of the globe— contem- 
plates that all the matter of our world was at some 
remote period in an extremely unevolved, rarefied 
state; that by processes of condensation it became 
intensely heated, and finally assumed the form of 
molten lava, which at that period was the only element 
the earth contained. The exterior of this immense 
ball of lava finally cooling, solidified into the substance 
known as granite, which is termed a primary igneous 
rock. Consequently, nature at that period (if this 
theory is correct) could have contained nothing but 
this uniform igneous rock spread out smoothly over 
the entire surface of the globe. There could have been 
neither oxygen, hydrogen or nitrogen, for these subli- 
mated essences are certainly the product of unfoldment, 
and could only have been eliminated by a dissolution 
of the particles of granite. Thus we discover, if we 
rely upon the nebular hypothesis, we could have had 
neither atmosphere or water until they were let loose 



PROGRESSION. 213 

from the granite formation ; and it becomes extremely 
difficult to conceive what power dissolved the granite, 
when there was nothing else upon the earth except the 
unevolved molten lava within the solidified crust, or 
what element could have existed in this supposed dead 
matter which could have produced all the living forms 
and organizations that have been found upon the sur- 
face of the earth during all time past. 

If we adopt the above theory we must find that all 
elements of life, motion, intelligence, and all else 
appertaining to material organisms, existed in this 
rarefied, unevolved mass — were transferred to the 
incandescent molten lava, from thence to the solidified 
granite rock, and were afterwards eliminated from that; 
else those elements came from some other source, or 
were brought into existence subsequently, and attached 
to the organized forms which manifest life, motion 
and intelligence. It is extremely difficult, nay, impos- 
sible, to conceive the propriety of passing those parti- 
cles which are to ultimate in intelligent organizations 
through such a terrible ordeal, and leave them all for 
millions of ages to endure the extreme scorchings of 
this incandescent molten lava before they could be 
permitted to pursue their progressive journey to higher 
conditions. 

No superintending intelligent beings could by any 
means have changed the nature of the elements they 
have found in the great sea of atoms, and from which 
our world and all other worlds are constructed. They 
must have made use of them exactly as they found 
them; and all the manipulations the most exalted 
intellects could have brought into use would only have 



214 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

made conditions such that the entities could have 
entered upon their eternal round of progression ; and 
thus have thej unfolded their latent powers by passing 
through all the requisite changes. We prepare the 
ground and plant the corn in the earth, thus making 
it possible for the particles in the kernels to afhnitize 
with other particles which aid the germinating pro- 
cess; and by a constant accession of the peculiar 
elements the roots, the blade, the stalk, the ears, and 
all the separate portions, are formed, while every entity 
has been progressed by passing through these several 
phases, and prepared for another step upon the great 
highway of eternal progression. 

If the granite rock is formed of particles, which is 
a known fact, then this formation is not only pro- 
ductive of such a particular rock, but also benefits or 
elaborates the particles that helped to compose this 
rock; so that when it is dissolved it has passed through 
an evolution, and is now prepared to go a step higher, 
and enter into the secondary or other formation; and 
so of every condition through which this entity may 
pass. Here is one curious and suggestive fact: The 
disintegrated particles of granite never enter into that 
formation again; they may help to build up limestone, 
slate, sandstone, or some other, but they never return. 

It is by no means probable that we breathe the same 
atmospheric particles that were breathed by our ances- 
tors, or that they inhaled the same as the mastodon 
and the early Saurian tribes; all those then existing 
must have long since passed on to higher conditions! 
Oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen have been needed to 
supply the wants of the vegetable and animal race, and 



PROGRESSION. 215 

innumerable organizations have been built up from 
these particles or entities, as they are all composed 
very largely of those gases. We cannot suppose that 
the particles of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen which 
enter the vegetable can ever return the same as when 
they were absorbed. 

The associated or affinitized entities which take pos- 
session of the oak evidently possess all the distinctive 
qualities that renders this tree an oak, while the maple 
or the beech is inhabited by an entirely different class, 
that give character to the different trees they inhabit. 
There are some portions of the country which seem 
spontaneously to give birth to some particular kinds 
of trees or vegetables; and this must necessarily arise 
from the fact that the peculiar elements or entities are 
there which would be productive of such species. 
There is also an adaptation existing between some of 
the vegetable and animal races, and the one becomes 
extremely suitable and nutritious food for the other, 
simply because the one contains entities that may 
serve to build up the animal organization, and those 
which would be improved by occupying such a home. 
How strange these entities or atoms should all go with 
such precision where they properly belong, and that 
each should find its proper locality in the tree or 
animal; some in the roots and others in the branches, 
each one occupying its own proper position in perfect 
harmony with all the rest — none saying they have no 
need of the others. 

If it is not living entities that produce living organ- 
isms, we should like to have some philosopher tell us 
how they could be formed from dead ones. If it is 



216 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

not this element of life in all things that produces or 
originates all the wondrous activities in nature, from 
whence do the activities proceed? If there is no latent 
element of life and activity in the infinitesimal atom, 
from whence, then, this principle of progressive unfold- 
ment which pervades all things? Can aggregations 
of particles exhibit what did not exist latent in each 
individual particle when in its crudest condition? 
Then it follows that the elements of progression existed 
in the vast elemental ocean of atoms from whence the 
materials were gathered for the construction of worlds, 
and that it is wrought out by evolution or change of 
condition — by aggregation and dissolution, and all 
the different modes of elaboration which nature employs 
in her universal workshop. It also follows that pro- 
gression is but change from one condition to another; 
it is the experiences obtained by passing through all 
the various states possible. In order to possess all 
knowledge, the intellect must have been through all 
possible changes, and experienced all that could have 
been realized by all other entities from the remotest 
eternities. We may then learn that we are indebted 
to this process of changing the condition of the entities 
for all the wonderful modifications and endless variety 
of organizations of a material and spiritual character 
that can by any possibility be found in nature. It is 
that each atom can have the opportunity of passing 
through all these inconceivably varied experiences. 

We are aware that it is extremely difficult to con- 
ceive that every fluid particle of the atmosphere, or of 
electricity or magnetism, is absolutely a living entity. 
Yet if such is not the case, we may well inquire from 



PROGRESSION. 217 

whence these elements obtain their life and activity. 
Let some of the learned men of the day inform us by 
what power the tornado rushes forward with such 
terrible velocity, carrying destruction and desolation 
in its pathway; why all this variableness of the winds; 
why they sometimes blow in gentle zephyrs, and then 
increase in their power and velocity until man and 
beast are glad to escape from their fearful influence. 
Let them tell us, if the life element does not exist in 
the fluid particles of the atmosphere, how these parti- 
cles are put in motion, enabled to carry on all their 
important labors, and cut up their curious antics. 

If by our ingenuity we could contrive a microscopic 
lens that would magnify one of the particles of this 
lower, denser strata of atmosphere up to the size of an 
orange, so that we could examine it in all its minute 
particulars, and understand it in its true character by 
becoming familiar with its capabilities, what a flood 
of light would burst upon the human mind in regard 
to this vast realm of atoms, where all is now so inex- 
plicable and dark. We cannot doubt but somewhere 
in this universe there must be beings possessing lenses 
quite capable of beholding and scrutinizing the minut- 
est atmospheric or electric particle, and of compre- 
hending their true character and knowing why in their 
associated capacity they are able to manifest such 
wonderful power; and we doubt not that such beings 
can communicate such knowledge to men whenever 
persons are found prepared to receive and appreciate 
the ideas. 

Not a single idea has ever been appropriated by any 
child of earth until the mind was prepared to appre- 



218 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

ciate such thought; and of course the only reason why 
men have been so tardy in obtaining new thoughts 
and exploring new fields of inquiry, is because of their 
unprogressed intellects they were entirely unable to 
entertain or comprehend the thought. The fallow 
ground had not been sufficiently cultivated, so that 
such seed could germinate, come forth and bear fruit; 
and we apprehend that few individual minds are pre- 
pared to-day to receive and accept the startling thought 
that every indivisible atom is a living entity, endowed 
with all the latent energies that would render it capable 
of entering into eyery condition, and rising through 
them all to the most exalted. There are doubtless few 
minds prepared to concede that the philosophy of pro- 
gression occupies so extensive a field as to embrace 
within its limits every crude particle of matter, and 
that each one is capable of ultimating to the highest 
point of intellectual development; but if it does not 
cover all this ground, it commences at some interme- 
diate starting point, and terminates before its journey 
is finished. Progression contemplates every possible 
change and every form of experience; each one of 
these changes preparing the entity to occupy other and 
higher conditions. 

Persons may object to this view, from the fact that 
no individual has any knowledge of what has trans- 
pired in connection with their own history, only in 
their present life; and they are entirely oblivious to 
the earlier portions of their personal experience, even 
in this state of existence. How, then, can they be 
profited, or in any manner progressed, by experiences 
that occurred before they were born? And we may 



PROGRESSION. 219 

inquire how they could have been born or entered 
upon this state of existence unless every particle, both 
of the physical and spiritual, had been unfolded and 
prepared by passing through all the changes below; 
and how the organ of memory could have been so 
elaborated as to take in so large a scope of their present 
history, unless it had been brought up to this state of 
development by previous preparation and experience? 
We are aware that by the power of memory persons 
may travel back upon their antecedent history, and 
profit by the experiences of the past; and that in this 
manner they are continually increasing their stores of 
knowledge concerning themselves and surrounding 
objects. We are aware, also, that memory, as well as 
all other organs, manifests itself in the present forms 
through gross material, and only partially subserves 
those high purposes for which it appears to be designed. 
We do not remember the earlier portions of our earthly 
life; so, many of the most beautiful pages of our mun- 
dane existence are blotted out forever; much of the 
innocent experience of our early childhood is concealed 
from our view in the darkness of eternal oblivion, 
unless the organ of memory, together with all other 
organs, is so expanded and unfolded that it may be 
enabled to recall every incident in that interesting 
portion of our personal history. If all the organs 
which constitute the individual mentality of an intel- 
lectual being are not elaborated and progressed by 
passing through this earth life, so as to prepare them 
for a more advanced condition in the spiritual abodes, 
earth life would seem to be of little practical service. 
The grand object of man's physical existence is not so 



220 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

much to sustain the body, which soon falls to decay, 
as to promote the general interests of that which sur- 
vives the dissolution of the earthly form; to elaborate 
and unfold all that appertains to the intellectual or 
spiritual personality, so that all the organs belonging 
to the individuality may be more intensified and 
enlarged. Hence, we may well suppose in the after 
life an individual may be perfectly competent, by the 
aid of his spiritualized and intensified memory and 
other faculties, to travel back upon his entire life line, 
and recall not only the incidents of extreme childhood, 
but all that has occurred during the multitudinous 
changes through which he has traveled' from the 
remotest periods of his eternal existence. 

It becomes, then, a matter of great importance to 
every being who has passed on to a higher life, and 
who is dwelling in a more spiritual condition, and who 
is now in possession of more refined and enlarged 
intellectual organs, and whose memory may reach back 
to all possible incidents in their past history, that they 
should have had an experience in all these endlessly 
varied modes of being; for in this consists their knowl- 
edge of what those various conditions are, or of their 
true nature. These varied experiences are a part of 
the sum of all knowledge. If the highly cultivated 
and endowed spiritual being has never been in the 
organization of the cat or dog, and his spiritually 
intensified memory does not reveal to his intellect the 
recorded experience he personally had while in those 
organisms, then he is evidently deficient in a knowl- 
edge of all that is below himself; for the cat and dog 



PROGRESSION. 221 

Lave had an experience that he has not, and they cer- 
tainly know something of which he is ignorant. 

"We now discover that this being is unprepared to 
go forward in the accumulation of all knowledge, for 
he has left a blank in those experiences by which he 
has attained his knowledge, far below himself; and he 
never, in all the eternities, can fill up such blank unless 
he obtains such particular experience. This is a part 
of the philosophy of progression ; and thus we see the 
importance of passing through all the changes and 
entering into all conditions as we pursue our journey 
upward. Each entity was as good as the other when 
back in the great elemental sea, before entering into 
the composition of a world, and each one has been as 
good as the other through all the varied modes of 
being, though one might seem to have occupied a 
position supereminently above the other; the one 
might have been apparently dead, while the other was 
full of life and activity; the one might have been 
seated upon a throne, while the other was wallowing 
in the mire and dirt. It is this endless variety of 
conditions and modifications in which individualized 
entities can be placed that constitute all there is to 
excite our admiration and wonder in this world and in 
all worlds. It is the experience we obtain in, and what 
we learn of, this endless variety of modifications that 
will constitute the sum of all knowledge with us and 
with every individual. For what can we learn outside 
of the atoms or entities that compose all of material 
substance? All else is nothing; and all we can learn 
of nothing will very poorly compensate us for the time 
devoted to that object. 



222 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

It will no doubt be extremely difficult for the human 
mind to comprehend the mode of operations by which 
a crude particle may unfold or progress through all 
this infinite variety of changes until it becomes an 
exalted individuality in the so-called spiritual realms, 
endowed with supreme wisdom and power, beyond all 
of which we can entertain the faintest possible idea. 
All the conceptions that have ever entered the devout 
Christian's mind concerning the Hebrew God, whom 
they claim to worship with so much reverence, is 
doubtless but an approximation toward the exaltation 
of real finite spiritual beings, who have progressed 
through all the lower phases of active life, and earned 
their lofty supereminence by individual exertions. 

We must first remember that our ideas of size are 
governed entirely by the limited nature of our visions, 
and that what might seem to be, when viewed through 
this medium, inconceivably minute, may to other 
visions possessed of a million -fold power swell to very 
respectable dimensions; and, hence, that the so-called 
infinitesimal atom, after all, is not absolutely so dimin- 
utive as it may appear. We must recollect that size 
is relative, and that it depends exactly upon the nature 
of the vision through which it is beheld; and that it 
is quite possible, nay, an absolute fact, that objects 
entirely beneath the reach of the unaided human eye 
may swell to the size of globes when subjected to the 
inspection of visions that are ultimated in higher 
spheres of intellectual existence. We discover, then, 
that our visions are like all things else appertaining 
to this physical condition, extremely imperfect, limited 
and contracted, and do not by any means render abso- 



PROGRESSION. 223 

lute this matter of size; and that it is only such as we 
behold it, because of the peculiarity of the lenses 
through which it is beheld. If the lenses are increased 
in magnifying power, of course the object beheld will 
be proportionately larger; and when we take it into 
consideration that superior beings must be possessed 
of superior or more powerful sensuous and perceptive 
faculties, then it becomes obvious that objects beheld 
through their lenses, or by their vision, must be 
immensely magnified, because their visions, like them- 
selves, have progressed to higher states of existence. 
Then it becomes quite possible that those atoms which 
seem to us infinitesimally small as beheld through 
physical organs, may swell to proud dimensions when 
beheld through the organs of advanced spiritual beings. 

When these individualized entities are relieved of 
their minute infinitesimality, and we realize the exist- 
ence of visions that can behold them as we behold an 
orange or a horse, then the great difficulties in regard 
to this subject seem to be to a certain extent removed. 
When we realize that there must be visions that can 
behold the minutest point of material substance, scru- 
tinize it in all its characteristics, discern all the 
elements it contains within itself, and become familiar- 
ized with all its operations while passing through its 
innumerable changes, this whole matter becomes far 
more tangible, and does not appear shrouded in such 
impenetrable darkness. 

We very clearly perceive that no intellectual being 
can obtain an absolute knowledge of all forms of 
organized life contained in the universal realms, unless 
they acquire a comprehensive knowledge of the true 



224: THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

nature of the minutest particles which enter into the 
constitution of these various organisms; hence, there 
must be powers by which the infinitesimal can be 
clearly discerned and comprehended, for this is a part 
of the sum of all knowledge. "We may accustom our- 
selves to think of the minutest entity as if possessed 
of these enlarged visions, and then conceive it quite 
possible that all this matter may be clearly understood, 
and that all the evolutions of these entities are in per- 
fect harmony or accord with universal law; for the 
least one must act in unison and upon similar princi- 
ples with larger aggregations or affinitized associations 
of the same. If birds of a feather flock together, or 
large particles of matter affinitize, then the minutest 
of that which the bird or the larger mass is composed 
will flock together or affinitize also; else this power 
would not have existed in the bird or in any organiza- 
tion composed of material substance. 

There is another peculiarity that seems to attend 
almost all things that come together in an associated 
capacity, and that is, some one individual either 
assumes or somehow comes to act in the capacity of 
leader. If there is an army, there must be a general- 
in-chief; if there is a nation, there must be a head or 
chief ruler of some description. The wild geese have 
their leader; the bees have their queen. The herd of 
cattle or band of horses upon the plains have one that 
assumes power and authority over the rest. All organ- 
isms have their high and low, their head and feet, and 
entities within them which seem to exercise authority 
over the balance. If this tendency is found in aggre- 
gations of material particles, it must certainly exist in 



PROGRESSION. 225 

each one separately. Again we find in the materali 
world that the finer essences or entities may penetrate 
the coarser, and become within them a power. Caloric 
or steam may permeate materialized substances, and 
produce their results. The atoms composing magnet- 
ism and electricity may enter into all solid bodies, and 
become a power in those bodies. So may all spiritual 
essences enter into grosser materials, and produce 
results corresponding with the nature of the essence or 
the entities. 

Now, if we may give to etherealized entities these 
three wonderful powers — that of association or affini- 
tization, that of coming under a leadership, and that 
of entering into grosser forms of matter — we shall 
find no difficulty in ascertaining how they may be pro- 
gressed through all possible forms of existence. 

We shall now, since we ascertain that the finest, 
most spiritualized entity really has size sufficient to be 
comprehended by advanced intellects, and that they 
are possessed of all these varied powers, very naturally 
conclude that an individual entity might take the 
leadership of an association, and enter into grosser 
forms of matter, and thus become a living organization, 
and exist there until such organization should be sub- 
jected to a dissolution of its grosser particles. The 
power that the ruling entity possessed would be just 
so much drawn or stolen from the others, because each 
one is entitled to rule as well as the others; neverthe- 
less, in all associations, whether of atoms or men, it is 
absolutely necessary that "there should be something 
like leadership, and that some individuals should act 
in a more prominent capacity than others. 
15 



226 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

In the human organism there must be inconceivable 
billions of entities, all occupying their various posi- 
tions — some at the crown of the head, and some at the 
soles of the feet; all supplying the wants of the differ- 
ent parts of the organism, each one acting in its own 
individual capacity, and each one preparing to ascend 
or progress to a higher state — the grosser becoming 
more spiritualized or liner, and the more spiritual por- 
tions unfolding to more advanced conditions. 

We need scarcely remark that the human organism 
is far more elaborately and symmetrically arranged 
than any other below it in all the animal kingdom; 
that it possesses a superior cerebral development, and 
a greatly enlarged element of spirituality; or, in other 
words, it contains a larger community or association 
of spiritual or progressed entities. Again it will 
appear that there are a greater number of sub-commu- 
nities, or so-called organs, which seem to be associated 
in different portions of the human cerebrum. The 
animal races all possess less brain capacity, and less of 
the subdivisions; nevertheless, each animal is endowed 
with some brains, and all are evidently endowed with 
some one or more of the organs which have culminated 
in the human. 

We shall find that this brain capacity and subdi- 
vision into departments or organs commences at the 
lowest possible grade, where there is but a single 
organ, and the brain is the merest point, ascending 
the ladder of progression by the smallest possible steps, 
and that the changes from lower to higher are almost 
imperceptible through all this graduated scale of 
being. If we could scrutinize this department of 



PROGRESSION. 227 

nature carefully, we should doubtless ascertain that 
below man there may be found circles and spheres of 
spiritual existence, and that innumerable hosts of indi- 
vidualized spirits, beyond all arithmetical computation, 
are traveling onward through these circles, adding 
organ after organ as they progress upward toward 
humanity. For what purpose are the lower animal 
forms endowed with a brain, if it is not used for the 
self same purposes as the brain in the human organism, 
and it is not the abiding place of the spirit personality 
in them, where that spirit may display its activities, 
through which it may come in contact with the 
objective world, and in which it may by its experiences 
progress or prepare to change to some other organism? 
"If there is nothing in nature that can be lost, and 
there is evidently a spiritual element in all forms of 
life, which is subject to change and unfoldment, and 
which may accumulate to itself more of similar 
elements, then nothing can hinder that spirit from 
passing into other and higher forms, and thus unfold- 
ing through all possible organisms, aggregating to 
itself the elements of which it stands in need through 
all conditions, continually taking on and throwing off, 
yet ever remaining the same individual through all its 
multitudinous changes. 

If this is the philosophy of progression, and all 
things in nature have proceeded from this vast sea of 
elemental substances — and all entities must necessarily 
pass through all possible changes in order to obtain 
experience and unfoldment — we need not so much 
wonder at the instability and metamorphic character 
of all terrestrial affairs. We need not be surprised 



228 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

that old things are continually passing away, and that 
all things are becoming new ; that we behold such an 
infinite variety of forms and conditions of matter 
around us; and that all earthly things appear so fleet- 
ing and transitory. Nature is evidently working out 
a mighty problem ; she is unfolding herself by her own 
silent processes, unceasingly operating her huge mills, 
grinding every entity over and over again, slowly but 
surely, thus affording them those experiences they 
required in their onward progressive march through 
the eternal ages. All shall assist in grinding, and all 
shall be ground to powder in their turn ; the grand 
wheels shall ever roll onward, and as all have com- 
menced their career of activities in the universal ocean 
of undeveloped matter, all shall be alike progressed 
through all possible changes, and ultimate in a similar 
condition of exaltation and glory. There shall be no 
high or no low in the absolute, for all possible changes 
are required that all may be ultimated. ~No one being 
shall be able to say thou art small and mean and 
despicable, for the great must' become small and low 
in order that he who was so should become great and 
glorious. Eternal justice rules all with an equal 
balance, and in enforcing her rigid demands she 
requires that all should endure equivalent sufferings, 
in order that they may be qualified for their equal 
share of the enjoyments. 

The element of progressive unfoldment having been 
intimately connected with every particle of substance, 
or all entities in their initiative existence, it must 
diffuse itself into all conditions where such particles 
may be found in any of their varied forms; and thus 



PROGRESSION. 229 

this element diffuses itself throughout all the avenues 
of human society, and from its earliest periods to the 
present continuous changes have taken place, from the 
most savage or barbarous to the more civilized and 
refined. Constant evolutions and changes have attended 
all grades and classes of humanity in an associated as 
well as in an individual capacity. Much has already 
been said and written upon this phase of progression; 
and we only make the allusion to show the necessity 
of passing through the lower stratas of human life in 
order to prepare the people of a community or country 
for a more advanced civilization. The foundations of 
national glory have ever been laid deep down in the 
earth, and the ascent has been toilsome in the extreme; 
nevertheless, the inherent element pervading all things 
has produced its influence, and the most conservative 
people have moved forward, however imperceptible 
their changes. Every change through which they 
have passed lias prepared them for the one in advance, 
and in many instances they have reluctantly accepted 
the situation, as of necessity rather than choice. 

There is perhaps no element in any manner con- 
nected with human existence, more conservative and 
obstinately fixed in its character and tendency than 
that of religion ; yet every form of religion has been 
compelled to yield, and steadily march onward in 
obedience to the all-pervading influence of progression. 
Although nearly all forms of religion are firmly based 
on the dead past, and intimately connected with the 
doings and teachings of some one or more individuals 
long since dead; although forms of religion may be 
handed down from past generations, and seem to have 



230 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

been immovably fixed and established by irrevocable 
decrees, which are not susceptible of repeal or annul- 
ment, still they succumb to the mutations of time and 
this undying element of change. 

In view of the religious history of the past, it 
requires but little sagacity to discover that all the 
religions of the present must yield to these self same 
eternal influences, and be subjected to modifications 
and manipulations until no vestige of their earlier 
forms shall remain extant among the children of men. 
The crude religious forms and ceremonials of the early 
Hebrews claim and are acknowledged to have origi- 
nated with the Infinite God whom the Christians 
worship and adore, and they were given as a perpetual 
statute unto His people forever — an everlasting cov- 
enant, to continue unto all generations. There is no 
record in our world giving reliable information that 
these enactments have ever been repealed, or their cov- 
enants abrogated, by the party who established them 
upon Mount Sinai ; and yet every vestige of the forms 
and ceremonials of this Jewish religion, as given to 
Moses, has been swept away and buried beneath the 
rubbish of succeeding ages. If a religion taught to 
men by the acknowledged Infinite Sovereign of the uni- 
verse cannot withstand the mutations of time, and the 
influences of that change and evolution which seems 
to be so indellibly impressed upon all terrestrial things, 
what may we expect of one established upon its ruins 
by those who avowed themselves to be men in the 
proper sense of that term ; by those who were born and 
nurtured, ate and drank, walked and talked, performed 
all the functions of other men, and finally yielded 



PROGRESSION. 231 

themselves up to that fell destroyer, death, and disap- 
peared from the world forever? Can we suppose for a 
moment that the popular religion of our day, which 
made its appearance under comparatively unfavorable 
circumstances, will not share the fate of its predecessor? 
We dare predict that the day is not very remote when 
not one stone shall be left upon another of all this huge 
temple, and that long before the two thousand years 
of the coming era shall have elapsed every single 
vestige of the so-called Protestant religion will be 
swept from the face of the earth. 

We need go no further than the religious history of 
the present century to prove conclusively that the 
popular religions of the present day contain all the 
elements of change and dissolution which must pro- 
duce that result long before the time specified. The 
tendency of most popular theological teachings to-day 
is somewhat in the direction of independence and free- 
dom of thought; and no greater solvent can be brought 
to bear for church organizations than independent 
thinking. An individualized thinker becomes the 
poorest possible material to be used in the construction 
of a religious institution, for such always have pre- 
supposed the introduction of ecclesiastical rules, creeds 
and ceremonials, which must be observed; and the 
more people think, the less regard they have for these 
concomitants of the religious schools. 

A progressive religion must prove a contradiction 
in terms, because the two elements are directly antag- 
onistic; there can be no coincidence between them. 
Progression would go forward; religion would remain 
stationary, or look backward into the past. The one 



232 THE GOSPEL OP NATURE. 

expects to attain to a higher excellence by receiving 
newer and grander ideas; the other only by acting 
upon those that have been received in the past. The 
one hopes for the good time coming; the other mourns 
for the good time which has gone. But, notwithstand- 
ing every human effort to the contrary, all religions 
must succumb to this universal element of evolution, 
which pervades all things that exist, and which will 
triumph in the grand conflict of the ages. 

The natural principles of progressive development 
which have been eternally impressed upon all material 
entities, and which ever have been, and still are, in 
active operation, are in direct opposition to the con- 
servatism of religion; and there can be little doubt 
which will be victorious in this unequal contest. The 
Christianity of the Puritans has passed away, and that 
of a later date seems to be equally fleeting. Fifty 
years ago the acknowledged sentiments of Plymouth 
church would have been infidelity. Then Universalism 
and Unitarian! sin were a stench in the pious Christian's 
nostrils; now they take rank among the most ardent 
followers of Jesus; and all the distinction noted is a 
little difference of opinion concerning his paternal 
ancestor and some other non-essentials. Thus pro- 
gression has permeated with its metamorphosing influ- 
ences the sacred teachings of the bible, and ever since 
Moses came down from .the mount, although all 
devotees have proclaimed their religion as enduring as 
time; yet all have changed, and all are still changing, 
and surely will do so until no fragment of the present 
forms shall be left upon the earth. Every form has 
been necessary, as a sort of way mark to distinguish 



PROGRESSION. 233 

the peculiar characteristics of all conditions of people 
living 'in all the different ages of the world. How 
extremely dull and monotonous would it have been had 
the world afforded but a single form of religion; and 
we may discover at a glance the great importance to 
the human race that religions, like all things else in 
nature, should commence down in the very substratum 
of intellectuality, and by a process of evolution ramify 
themselves into every conceivable variety of form, from 
the crudest and most barbarous up to those curiously 
wrought and elaborately arranged creeds and ceremo- 
nials which are suited to the tastes of the most polished 
and refined society of the present or some future age. 
If there had been but a single religion, where would 
have been all those glorious polemic discussions which 
have adorned the pages of theological literature for so 
many ages in the past, and where would have been all 
those eloquent, controversial discourses which have 
emanated from the various popular pulpits? All these 
have imparted a kind of zest, and added an increasing 
interest, to their peculiar creeds, ceremonials and modes 
of worship. All forms of religion that ever existed 
have served to fill up blanks in that particular depart- 
ment of nature; each one was necessary in its place, 
and each one exactly adapted to the condition in which 
it appeared; none could have been spared, and all have 
been equally good, subserving their purposes to the 
greatest possible extent, no matter by whom they have 
been adopted. 

All thoughts and ideas in any way connected with 
the various forms of belief or doctrines or ceremonials 
embraced in all religions, have been in existence from 



234 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

the eternal past, and the individuals who have adopted 
them have done so, because of their adaptation; and 
they have no doubt chosen the one suited to their 
peculiar status, and the only one which would answer 
their purpose at the time. When by the changes of 
progression these same parties have assumed a different 
status, they inevitably come into relationship with a 
different form of religion, and thus onward until they 
rise superior to all creeds and ceremonials of any 
character. 

We have no use whatever for the Jewish forms of 
worship, because we are not in their condition of 
mental development. Yet these are the only forms 
that come to us with the sanction of an acknowledged 
infinite God — the only forms upon which His seal of 
perpetuity has ever been impressed ; and if vouchers of 
this supreme character cannot insure the permanency 
of a religion, we may well expect that all its successors 
will be swept from the shores of mundane existence by 
the never ceasing tide of progression. All the elements 
of life and death, of aggregation and dissolution, are as 
indellibly impressed upon the various forms of religion 
that have existed upon the earth as they are upon the 
more materialized forms in nature; then, if they have 
lived, like all things else they must die; if they have 
been aggressive, they must tend toward dissolution, 
and perish from the face of the earth, when something 
of a higher character will proceed from their ruins. 
How supremely ridiculous, then, for men of intelli- 
gence to become wedded to any of these various forms 
of religion, for the least glance into the soul essence 
of things will show that they are transitory, and pass- 



PROGRESSION. 235 

ing away upon the receding waves of time; and that 
in their present phase they can be of no service to 
future generations, because those generations neces- 
sarily will have outgrown the conditions that render 
them acceptable to us, the same as we have outgrown 
that which did render cruder forms acceptable to our 
ancestry. 

Although the philosophy of progression is so inti- 
mately connected with life and motion, with change 
and evolution, nevertheless, by a careful observation 
of the matter, we shall find that the whole super- 
structure is based upon death and inertia, upon statics 
and inactivity. For all things must inevitably die in 
order to live in a higher condition; so they are as 
much dependent upon death for their growth and 
advancement as they are upon life for their present 
existence. 

Living entities can only pass through all conditions, 
from the lowest to the highest, by dying all the deaths 
which intervene between the lowest and highest. 
They can by no means climb up any other way; they 
must enter through these open but much dreaded gate- 
ways, and who or whatever would ascend from their 
present state must die to that state. By so doing they 
may assume new relations, and in no other manner. 
So we perceive that death and inactivity are quite as 
important elements as life and activity; that before 
change can take place the former must come into use, 
in order that the latter may be realized. The cater- 
pillar can only assume the form of the butterfly by 
passing through this condition of death and inactivity; 
there is as much of the negative as there is of the 



236 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

positive — as much of death as there is of life in the 
universe — and sure each are alike essential to the 
other. Unless there was life there could be no death; 
unless there was death there could be no life; and 
evolution or progression is equally dependent upon 
both, and were it not for both conditions these opera- 
tions could not be successfully carried forward. 

Living entities can only exist in one condition at a 
time, and the only way they can pass to another is 
through the gates of death. The human system is said 
to change all its particles once in seven years, so that 
we have nothing to-day that we possessed seven years 
ago — every atom has passed off as effete or dead matter; 
and as nothing can be lost, these atoms have simply 
changed their forms, and must exist in some other. 
All inorganic material forms are subject to dissolution, 
and all organized bodies are equally subject to death; 
and by this beautiful process nature has produced all 
that is grand, beautiful and worthy of admiration. 

If this be the case, then worlds themselves may be 
dissolved; for if the elements of dissolution and death 
are in all the material particles of which they are com- 
posed, what shall prevent their utter dissolution, when 
they have subserved their purposes, and when all the 
material by the processes of evolution is prepared to 
enter into the constitution of a world in every sense 
of the word vastly superior? 

Where we find all things progressive, we can hardly 
suppose the art of world building has been stationary 
from all eternity, and that all have been constructed 
after the same pattern or upon exactly the same plan; 
and we may well conclude that worlds may be built 



PROGRESSION. 237 

far superior to the one we inhabit, in all their minute 
particulars. When it becomes necessary, it can be no 
greater calamity for the shell of a world to be dissolved 
and reconstructed upon enlarged and improved princi- 
ples, than for objects in nature far more diminutive. 
We can scarcely doubt that worlds have been con- 
structed in manner and form corresponding to all ideas 
ever entertained concerning this one; neither can we 
doubt but this may be somewhat imperfect when com- 
pared with others which may be now in course of 
construction, or which may hereafter be erected. 

World building must as necessarily keep pace with 
progressive intelligence as the building of smaller 
fabrics, for the same elements exist in the material of 
which all are constructed; and if one is progressive, 
the other must be also. Again, if intelligence is 
brought to bear in the formation of worlds, progressive 
variety must be a marked feature in their elaboration. 
If intelligent minds have been at any time capable of 
conceiving this world to be flat, and that was their 
highest idea, then some intelligent minds may at some 
period have been capable of constructing worlds upon 
that principle, else where did the idea originate. 

If the science of mechanics is like all things else 
progressive in its tendency, if forces and powers may 
be brought to bear upon material substance, directed 
and manipulated by intelligence in forming structures 
of all possible dimensions, from the smallest aggrega- 
tion of particles to the largest, why should not variety 
and improvement be introduced into those immense 
fabrics that are wheeling and performing their evolu- 
tions upon so grand a scale, as well as into the diminu- 



238 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

tive affairs that are produced by inferior, less developed 
mentalities? 

The philosophy of progression is so diffusive that it 
extends its influence to every department of the 
natural universe. Its operations have been coeval with 
the eternities which have preceded, and must continue 
through all those which shall succeed. Its silent pro- 
cesses are as intimately connected with the doings of 
the most exalted intellects, who are able to manipulate 
forces in such a manner as to result in the construction 
of worlds and systems of worlds, as with the infinitesi- 
mal point of material substance that has just waked 
from its primitive repose, and is but commencing its 
interminable career of life, activity and change. 

How broad, then, this field, and how ennobling this 
conception, and how beautiful this progressive phil- 
osophy, that extends its kindly hand to every entity in 
every possible condition, even to the lowest, with the 
cheering hope that some more revolutions of the wheel 
shall bring them to the top. It teaches every intelli- 
gent being that not one is entitled to more of the good 
things that earth or heaven can afford than themselves, 
and that every living entity or individuality, although 
they are enduring intense suffering and privations 
to-day, in the aggregate they shall suffer no more than 
is for their benefit, and no more than has been experi- 
enced by that celestial being who enjoys all his regal 
splendor upon the loftiest throne in the supernal 
realms. "Were there no progression there would be no 
change, and hope could never have found an abiding 
place in human mentalities; this welcome messenger 
of peace, which comes from happier climes, never 



PROGRESSION-. 239 

could enter the deep recesses of the down-trodden and 
sorrow-stricken heart, or bring one ray of bright anti- 
cipation to those who are but enduring an existence 
of wretchedness and despair. I would that a knowl- 
edge of the philosophy of progression could enter every 
prison cell, every den of infamy and degradation, and 
enlighten the brutalized intellects of those who scarcely 
seem caj^able of entertaining hopes of higher and nobler 
attainments; and happy will it be for humanity when 
the dark corners of the earth are illuminated with the 
scintillations of this glorious philosophy. 

It will evidently be a brighter day for the human 
race when the intellectual and cultivated portion are 
more deeply impressed with the idea that we are 
indebted to the universal principles of progressive 
unfoldment for our world, and all that it contains, both 
of a material and spiritual character; and but for this 
all-pervading principle we could not possibly change 
from one condition to another, although a God might 
have sent a thousand sons into the world to perish by 
any system of torture that could have been invented. 
How can man's soul nature be regenerated or changed 
unless there is a law existing in universal nature which 
renders such a fact possible; and if there is such a 
universal law, by which we may pass through any and 
all conceivable changes, what more do we require? As 
Jesus could add nothing to the law, neither could he 
take anything from its power and efficiency. 

Then all hail the eternal universal principles of pro- 
gression, of change and unfoldment which have been 
in successful operation upon all worlds throughout all 
the preceding cycles of existence, and which must con- 



240 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

tinue their unceasing labors through all the unending 
eternities to come. They have manifested their power 
in all conditions of material substance, whether in the 
minutest atom or in the most stupendous planet or 
sun. If there is a particle of atmosphere or vesicle of 
vapor that are basking in the sunshine, a worm that 
crawls upon the earth, or a bird that nits in the air, 
they have become such by virtue of this grand principle 
of progressive unfoldment which permeates all nature. 
If kings, princes and valiant conquerers have risen 
and fallen, if a Jesus lived and died, or if there is a 
supreme God who sways the destinies of universal 
worlds, all alike have been indebted to this progressive 
element for their power; and none could have accom- 
plished* their lofty purposes except by the influence of 
this ever-living, all-pervading principle in nature. 



CHAPTEK YI. 

JUSTICE. 

The principles of universal, even-handed, eternal 
justice must exist somewhere in the natural realms, 
and justice itself must be an actual, objective reality, 
which permeates all constituent elements or entities 
that enter into every form of existence; each one 
having arisen from the vast elemental ocean, and 
having existed there upon a perfect level with all its 
fellows, is inherently entitled to an equal amount of 
everything of value the universe contains. The indi- 
vidualized rights of one entity are exactly the same as 
those of every other, and universal justice demands 
that the rights of each one, at some period in their 
history, should be respected, and that they should enjoy 
all that properly belongs to themselves. 

If universal justice and the equality of individual 
rights were not eternal principles existing in the 
natural realms, men never could have gathered the 
imperfect ideas concerning these elements they now 
entertain. They must have an actual existence, and 
be written upon nature's tablets, in order to impress 
themselves so forcibly upon human mentalities. 

If exact justice is so universal in its operations as 

to pervade all nature's elements, it must necessarily 

guarantee the equal rights of every individual entity 

or atom to the largest possible extent. Hence, every 

16 (241) 



242 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

encroachment upon the rights of every other one must 
at some time be followed by an entire restoration of 
all to which they are inherently entitled before the 
demands of justice can be properly satisfied. Each 
having commenced their career of activities in a perfect 
condition of equality, and each one in that condition 
having an equal right to their portion of the broad 
universe, it follows that when each one has had a 
similar experience in all possible phases of conscious 
existence, even-handed justice will again assume her 
prerogative, and each one shall alike have all to which 
they are entitled, and all must be equal. It is quite 
evident, however, that this condition of equality cannot 
be enjoyed during any period of their transitional 
history, for all this wonderful variety of experiences 
depends upon the very fact that the rights of some 
individuals are invaded by others. If each one enjoyed 
all they are inherently entitled to enjoy, then there 
would be just one phase of experience with all, instead 
of this endless variety. One individual is evidently as 
much entitled to wealth, rank and power as another by 
natural inheritance; but all cannot be equal in these 
respects during this transition existence, for equality 
would entirely neutralize all ideas of those conditions, 
and utterly destroy all experiences arising from them. 
If all were kings there could be no subjects; if all were 
rich there could be no poverty; if all were intelligent 
and virtuous there could be no ignorance and vice, and 
no consequent knowledge arising from all these various 
phases of active life. 

There can be no such thing as an administration of 
even-handed justice while living individuals are pass- 



JUSTICE. 243 

ing through these varied scenes incident to life, for in 
that case all experiences would be the same, and an 
absolute knowledge of every character of conscious 
existence could not be obtained. When we take a 
superficial view of human affairs, justice would seem 
to be extremely tardy in measuring out to each their 
several deserts. 

"We have learned that there are all possible grada- 
tions of conscious existence, and that the soul entity 
only tarries in any one a sufficient length of time to 
obtain the requisite intelligence attached to that par- 
ticular sphere. The living soul entity or spirit, then, 
only tarries in the human organism for the same 
important purpose; and there must of course be con- 
stant arrivals at this stopping place in the grand cycle 
of eternal life from the spheres below, as well as 
departures for those which are beyond. 

Therefore, we can have no absolute equality in this 
or any other changeable condition, because in order to 
keep the entire machinery in active operation some 
must necessarily have greater knowledge than others, 
and be prepared to assume positions that others cannot 
occupy. "When each individual has passed through all 
the experiences of every other individual, and each one 
is in possession of all the knowledge of every other 
one, then justice shall have accomplished her perfect 
work, and her demands will be fully satisfied. 

It is quite evident, however, that the human race 
has not culminated to any such perfection, if they have 
even arrived at the half-way house in their progressive 
cycle; and it is idle to suppose that the time will ever 
arrive, upon this or any other planet, when there will 



244 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

not be high and low, rich and poor, and all the possible 
conditions that must occur, or are necessarily attached 
to a transitory state of existence. 

The different races of men upon our earth were 
doubtless produced by virtue of potencies and possi- 
bilities found in material substance, and they have 
unfolded as naturally as the least plant or animalcule 
— all is working outward, evolving. The substance 
in the egg is not metamorphosed into the chicken by 
virtue of any exterior force; the potency is in the sub- 
stance of the egg itself, all that is required is the 
proper temperature. So, when all was prepared, it was 
as easy for our planet to bring forth an Ethiopian or 
an Anglo-Saxon, and required no more throes than the 
production of the minutest lichen that clings to the 
rock, or the least infusoria that sports in the rain drop, 
for that which ultimated in the man was just as much 
inherent in the substance composing the earth as that 
which ultimated in the lichen. 

This marvelous process could not have occurred as a 
casualty, or from mere accident, as no such things 
transpired in nature. And now who can say that life 
and experience is not as valuable to the Ethiopian as 
it is to the Caucassian ; and who can say that the indi- 
vidual Ethiopian has not an inherent right to be a 
Caucassian, if he is prepared by former experience to 
assume that position in the scale of being; and who 
can say that he will not become such at the proper 
time, when he is fully prepared? Most certainly, if it 
is a step in advance, and a great privilege, to be a 
Caucassian, and the Ethiopian is inherently entitled 
to be such, justice cannot be satisfied unless nature has 



justice. 245 

provided a means by which he may enter into that 
condition and enjoy all to which the higher race is 
entitled. 

If this is true concerning the Ethiopian, it must be 
equally true of every soul entity in existence. Each 
one is justly entitled to its personal share of the bless- 
ings contained in the mighty universe. If we could 
by any arithmetical computation arrive at the number 
of soul entities, and also the amount of good things 
contained in the whole, and then make an equitable 
distribution of all this to every individual, so that each 
might enjoy his appropriate share, then the demands 
of justice might be satisfied; and never can they be 
until this distribution is completed. 

It has been generally taught that all we receive in 
the form of good or valuable things come to us from 
some personal being in the form of a gift extended in 
mercy or pity, and that we are not justly entitled to 
anything but curses and misery. We have, however, 
come to look upon this matter very differently. We 
have ascertained that each individual is an integer — a 
whole number — not the fractional part of some other 
being, but an integral part and parcel of all of universal 
nature, and as such must possess equal inherent rights 
to a particular share with all others; and we cannot 
see by what authority any power or principality can 
disinherit a single person of his natural rights, only at 
their own peril; what is taken must ultimately be 
restored, else the great scales of justice cannot be evenly 
balanced. So that whatever the earth affords us we 
take as our share of what properly belongs to us by 
virtue of our inheritance, without cringingly imploring 



246 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

some supposed infinite being to bestow these good 
things upon us in mercy. 

It is low and abject to ask for mercy, and the idea 
originated in a degraded and servile condition of 
humanity. We ask nothing but justice. If we obtain 
an equitable share it will prove an abundant supply 
for all possible wants. The universe contains enough 
for all, enough for evermore. 

The God worshiped by the Christian either does 
bestow upon us that which we need to satisfy our 
wants, or He does not. If He actually bestows in 
answer to our earnest petitions what our requirements 
demand, why should we be compelled to labor almost 
incessantly for their procurement? If we may obtain 
all necessary supplies from Him — from that source 
which is so infinitely above us — why, then, should we 
be continually digging and delving in the earth that 
is beneath us? If we may look to Him to fill our 
baskets and replenish our stores, why should we look 
to the cattle, the pigs, the sheep and the hen ; why look 
to the wheat, the corn, and the various fruits of the 
earth? Why look to your own strong arm to labor, 
and your own improved intellect to plan and devise 
means, that you may labor successfully? If all things 
come directly from this source, and He is ever ready 
to answer our petitions, why need the prayerful poor 
man go hungry; why does not this Being supply his 
numerous wants, and make him and his family com- 
fortable? We certainly obtain the very large portion 
of those things we require to supply our wants from 
the conditions below ourselves, by the use of our own 
energies — by means of well directed, intelligent labor. 



justice. 247 

Where, then, can the distinctive line be drawn between 
those things we receive from sources which are beneath 
and those which come to us from above, or from the 
Jewish or Christian's ideal God? 

We doubt very much — in fact, we are fully per- 
suaded it cannot be proven — that the entire history 
of the world will reveal a single instance where there 
is the least evidence that any one of all the petitions 
which have been offered up by all the devotees in 
ancient or modern times, ever was met by any response 
from the God of the Hebrew or of the Christian; not 
only because the imaginary being they claim to wor- 
ship is a myth, but because no superior being existing 
in the celestial spheres has any of tiie numerous things 
to offer for which application is made in the prayers 
of these devout worshipers. 

We bid defiance to any and all of them who to-day, 
or at any time previous, have existed upon the earth, 
to point us to a single petition which they can swear 
solemnly has been answered by an infinite God or a 
Christ. It is quite probable, nay,- there can be no 
doubt, but untold thousands have received a kind of 
relief in response to their earnest petitions; but the 
great difficulty is to ascertain with any degree of cer- 
tainty from whence or from whom this response has 
proceeded. There are untold billions of finite intelli- 
gent beings in the spiritual world who are abundantly 
qualified to administer relief to the care-worn and over- 
burdened soul, and who would doubtless be happy to 
do so when the opportunity offers; and we cannot 
suppose an individual exists who has not many friends 
in the spiritual spheres who have a direct personal 



248 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

interest in their welfare, and who would gladly do them 
all the good in their power. But none of these spiritual 
beings can proffer to the children of men what they do 
not possess themselves. They do not own the cattle 
upon a thousand hills, nor the hills upon which they 
graze; the money in bank is not theirs, neither any 
earthly thing which we require for our subsistence, 
hence they can bestow none of these things upon us. 

There is no superior intellectual being in all the 
spiritual spheres, however exalted he may be, whatever 
power and wisdom he may possess, who can say the 
earth is his, or exercise any such acts of ownership; 
he must have relinquished all of earth w T hen he laid 
down this gross materialized form of existence. Hence, 
we cannot receive our food and raiment from any such 
source, and are not indebted to any such being for 
these numerous blessings of which we are daily made 
partakers. If .we eat the flesh of the ox, and thus 
sustain our own life, to whom are we indebted but to 
the ox himself? He laid down his individual life for 
us, and we live by his death and sufferings; and our 
obligations must be to the ox personally, for no other 
individual has died or made any sacrifice. The reputed 
owner of the ox has received his money value, and the 
ox alone, who having died that we might live, is worthy 
of our thanks, for he is the only party who has made 
any sacrifice, or endured any suffering, to sustain us 
and prolong our physical existence upon the earth. 
If our raiment is composed of wool, to whom are we 
indebted for this very important article? Had there 
been no sheep to produce the wool, we certainly could 
not have obtained the suit of clothing which is manu- 



justice. 249 

factured from that material. The self-constituted 
owner of the sheep received an equivalent when he 
transferred his ownership to the fleece. The manu- 
facturer of the goods, the tailor and merchant, have all 
been compensated, and we have squared accounts with 
every party interested except the animals themselves. 
They have submitted to the sacrifice of their own coats 
in order to furnish this necessary article to the so-called 
lords of creation; and the sheep alone, if any parties, 
are entitled to our gratitude and thanks. Certainly no 
superior being has any wool with which he may supply 
our needs; neither can we suppose, at this more 
enlightened day, that he possesses wings, from which 
we might obtain a supply of feathers and quills. 

If we obtain any of these useful articles, we must 
find them in that portion of nature's realms which is 
less evolved than ourselves. "VYe cannot expect beings 
who have barely ultimated to our condition to supply 
us with these necessary commodities, much less look 
to those who have advanced such lengths beyond, and 
are composed of so much finer essences. The ox and 
the sheep crop the grass, that draws its nourish meut 
from the earth or mineral kingdom, and the grass sup- 
plies the materials which compose the flesh, the hides, 
and the wool of these animals, while men require all 
these several articles for their subsistence. Thus the 
higher forms and organizations draw their supplies 
from the lower in every instance, through all the 
gradations of living existence. 

These several animals must therefore be personally 
sacrificed; they must individually die, that we may 
live, and we are personally indebted to them, and not 



250 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

to any superior beings, for our continuance upon the 
earth. The universe might be filled with beings who 
are superior to us in refinement and development, 
while if there were no organizations below us from 
which we could draw that nourishment we require, we 
should most certainly perish; for those in advance 
could not possibly sustain us, as they have not in 
their possession the peculiar sustenance required to 
prolong our earthly lives. We are fully persuaded that 
it is perfectly impossible for any intellectual being, 
high or low, to controvert this reasoning, or to show 
that we do not obtain every essence and element that 
constitutes our physical and spiritual beings from that 
which is below, and not from above. Then, from this 
more rational and enlarged view of this subject, we 
may obtain a clearer and more comprehensive view of 
real values, and be much better enabled to form a 
proper conception of those sentient beings or intellects 
which are both below and above us in point of unfold- 
ment. We shall doubtless bow less cringingly and 
obsequiously to those who have already passed to 
higher conditions, and treat with greater respect those 
who are still so far below us that we are entirely 
dependent upon them for that sustenance which pro- 
longs an existence in our present form. We shall be 
enabled to take an intelligent view of this matter, and 
look in a proper direction for the source of all the rich 
bounties we are daily receiving, and render our thanks 
to the real parties who have done us the service. 

If a thousandth part of the petitions which are being 
continually offered up by devout persons should receive 
a response from any such beings as these parties sup- 



JUSTICE. 25 1 

pose they are addressing, humanity would very soon 
be annihilated from the face of the earth. Suppose, 
for instance, that some pure and intensely sublimated 
spiritual being should pour out of his spirit upon a 
congregation, in answer to the earnest petition of that 
learned ignoramus, who, clothed in clerical robes, is 
officiating in his priestly capacity, what sort of an 
element could he pour out upon the audience, if it was 
from his own individualized spirit? We ascertain that 
all elements increase in power as they are more subli- 
mated or refined, that magnetism is more powerful 
because it is still liner than caloric, that electricity 
bears the same relation to vapor, and that other 
elements, still finer, are still more powerful than 
electro-magnetism. How, then, would some of these 
elements operate when poured out upon the people 
from some superior being? Superior, because he is 
more spiritualized or sublimated; and all the material 
essences of which he is composed partakes of that 
penetrating, diffusive and expansive character which 
are destructive to gross material organisms. Superior 
spiritualized beings must be composed of something 
of the nature of atomic particles, else they are nothing, 
and could have no power; if so, they must be com- 
posed of the more spiritualized elements. This is why 
they are invisible to us, and exactly why we in our 
condition cannot come in contact with them in theirs; 
because the finer essences are too powerful for our 
physical organizations to endure. 

" No man can see God and live. Our God is a con- 
suming fire," saith the record which most of these men 
believe to be infallible; yet they implore the most 



252 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

spiritualized essence which permeates this consuming 
fire to come into their midst and manifest itself to the 
extent of its consuming influences. They earnestly 
invoke the most sublimated, ethereal essences in all the 
universe — a million times more destructive in their 
tendencies when brought in contact with physical 
matter than the power which produces the lightning 
flash or the earthquake's devastation — to rest upon 
them and abide with them. The fact that these enthu- 
siastic shepherds, together with their flocks, are not 
consumed, is sufficient evidence that these most subli- 
mated spiritual beings do not come in answer to their 
petitions and pour out their spirits upon their congre- 
gations. 

The sentiment is quite generally endorsed at the 
present day by the Christian believer, that such power- 
ful essences as this consuming fire could have over- 
shadowed and impregnated the physical organism of 
the Virgin Mary, and thus produced a physical 
offspring. This idea, which has been so universally 
believed, and which has had so much to do in coloring 
the history and shaping the destiny of civilized human- 
ity, is a physiological absurdity of the grossest char- 
acter, and one so transparent that we can only wonder 
with profound astonishment at the credulity of our 
race. This fabulous virgin could have far more easily 
endured the effects of being permeated by electro- 
magnetism, because the exalted spiritual being who is 
supposed to be the father of Jesus Christ must have 
been composed of far more refined and sublimated 
elements. He could not have been a celestial being, 
and still possessed within his nature any of the grosser 



justice. 253 

essences which might by any possibility fecundate the 
physical organism of the Yirgin Mary, and cause her 
to produce a physical offspring as the result. This 
sublime hoax has become too apparent to receive the 
credence and sanction of the intelligent people of the 
present day; and we are compelled to charge a very 
large number of the enlightened clergy, who proclaim 
this dogma, with hypocrisy — with a willful design, 
for the sake of lucre and position in society, to propa- 
gate that which they know in their inmost souls to be 
false. " Yerily, they shall have their reward." They 
shall take their places among the hypocrites. The 
same mete they have measured unto others shall be 
measured back to them, shaken down and pressed 
together. They must be tried, every one by their own 
teachings. If they have taught men to love their 
enemies, and to yield passive obedience, and do the 
greatest good to those who have despitefully used them 
and persecuted them, and have not in their daily 
history acted in obedience to the teachings they have 
given to others, they must suffer the penalties of their 
own disobedience to the laws which they have pre- 
scribed for others observance. 

If a man devoutly believes it to be his duty to love 
his worst enemies and do good unto them, he must 
carry out this principle to the letter, or else he must 
be in his own estimation a wicked man, and must of 
course suffer the consequences of his wickedness. He 
must learn this lesson by his own experience, and then 
his intellect will be illuminated and so expanded that 
he can comprehend the subject better. He will, after 
such experience, understand this matter for himself, 



254 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

without the aid of any so-called divine revelation. 
And he will probably learn, to his utter astonishment, 
that no man ever did love his enemies; for before he 
could see anything in them to admire, esteem and love, 
they would become his friends. ~No devout Christian 
has ever manifested much love and sincere affection 
for so-called Infidels; they have not regarded with 
much love and tenderness such avowed enemies to the 
church as Thomas Paine or the devil; and yet these 
are the very beings included more especially in the 
command, and such are the very personages who will 
rise up in judgment against them, and condemn them 
for disregarding the injunctions of that law to which 
they were bound by their own professions of faith and 
by their own personal teachings. By such a law, and 
by any other law which men devoutly believe and 
inculcate, must they be judged; and they must cer- 
tainly experience all the penal sufferings incident to 
the transgression of any and all laws in which they 
fully believe, and which they teach others, until from 
experience they have learned the fact that no such laws 
can exist within the limits of that universe of which 
they are inhabitants, and perhaps until they have 
accomplished what they could to correct the evils that 
may have accrued to others in consequence of the pro- 
pagation of such false and unnatural dogmas and 
beliefs. Men who bind burdens upon their fellows 
which they do not touch with one of their fingers, had 
better learn that they must be judged by the laws they 
inculcate, and that the pie they have so elaborately 
prepared for others they themselves must surely swal- 
low, that the eternal scales of justice may be balanced 



justice. 255 

to a hair. Justice seems to be, of all things, that which 
the Christian world would studiously avoid. It was 
from an idea of the existence of justice somewhere in 
these wide realms that scapegoats and sacrifices were 
invented by the Hebrews; and this is the grand reason 
why a suffering Jesus and a vicarious atonement is so 
acceptable to the Christian. Stern, unyielding justice 
seems to be clothed with terror, as beheld by all these 
parties ; and any 'plan that could be devised, however 
ridiculous, that will divest her of her power, comes as 
a God-send to these cringing worshipers of an unknown, 
incomprehensible God. Nevertheless, the eternal scales 
still hang suspended. Can there be any less justice in 
the universe to-day than there was before Moses went 
up amid the rattling thunder of Mount Sinai, and 
learned how to cheat her of her legitimate demands by 
an offering of sheep and goats? Or has any offerings 
or ceremonials or plans or atonements ever been 
devised that would render her powerless, and deprive 
her of her high official station, and prevent the proper 
exaction of all her legitimate demands. 

The great and eternal principles of justice, which 
are broad as the universe of mind and matter, are as 
sovereign and powerful to-day upon and above the 
earth, in all their influences and operations, as they 
have been during any of the eternities of the past; and 
that man who expects to escape any of her imperial 
mandates, must be a stupid, arrant fool, and he will 
pronounce himself such when his intellect is illumi- 
nated upon this subject. 

Justice must be universal in her prerogatives — 
identically the same in every portion of the vast domain 



256 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

where intelligent beings may happen to exist, and 
where she holds her high courts and sits upon her 
judgment seat, whether upon this or any other planet 
within the limits of this solar system or some other in 
the far realms of space. How, then, can men foolishly 
suppose that anything could transpire upon our little 
globe which would rob justice of her power, and pro- 
tect us from suffering the penalties universally awarded 
to transgressors in every portion of the natural realms? 
If we would escape justice, we can only do so by get- 
ting beyond its jurisdiction; and if we can find no 
dark hole to hide outside the boundless limits of 
revolving worlds or existing matter, where we may 
slink away and be shielded from its divine operations, 
then we may be sure that justice will find us; and. 
whether Christian or Infidel, we shall certainly be 
weighed in the balance. 

What intellect upon the earth to-day fully compre- 
hends the wide extended signification of the term 
justice? Who has ever beheld it in its broadest sense, 
and comprehended all the imperial demands of this 
stern, unyielding ruler? Who that hath not fathomed 
the depths and penetrated to the soul essence of all 
things can understand a tithe of that which is embraced 
in this simple word? Shall justice be meted out to 
every being, high as well as low? If there is such a 
principle, that does universally, and has eternally 
existed, it most assuredly will reach every individual 
case, and there can be no escape; no possible devices 
of men or Gods can prevent its universal application; 
and it is worse than folly to suppose that we may 
triumph over its power and shield ourselves from its 



justice. 257 

strong arm by a reliance upon the meritorious acts of 
some other intellectual being. 

Ever-living justice must not only extend to every 
individual case, but it must embrace and take cogni- 
tion, in order that the adjudication should be fair and 
impartial, of every incident in the eternal history of 
each particular case. It must also take into consider- 
ation all collateral cases, and all the incidents which 
occurred in them, and their particular influences. All 
must be brought into the account before impartial 
justice can be administered in any one particular case. 
Now, w T e may inquire, with great propriety, which one 
of all the intellects or soul entities who have risen out 
of the depths below has become competent, or could be 
induced to sit in judgment upon one of his fellows, 
and meet out exact and impartial justice to them? 
We shall ascertain, no doubt, the important fact that 
no one can serve in this capacity for another. No 
individual intellect in the wide universe is able to pro- 
nounce judgment upon his fellow, because he has not 
had precisely the same experience. Every particular 
life line in all the universal worlds must have been 
somewhat different, and each individual history is the 
personal property of the owner, and none can be admit- 
ted to a share unless by his consent. 

There is no one, then, to pass and execute judgment 
upon us but ourselves. Each individual intellect must 
perform this solemn duty for himself. This seems to 
be the very darkest feature in our case. Were it some 
one else we might invoke their clemency — we might 
possibly conceal something of our inherent, contempt- 
ible meanness; but, alas! now it will all be exposed, 
IT 



258 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

and no expiations can be made available. No sprink- 
ling priest can pronounce any absolution for us where 
our illuminated intellects in the spiritual sphere will 
enable us to penetrate at a single glance into the very 
depths of our own natures, where we shall behold all 
our vile selfishness, as well as the thousand ridiculous 
attitudes in which we have placed ourselves during our 
career upon the earth. There is no other judge who 
could give sentence upon us with that severity that 
we shall both pronounce and execute upon ourselves, 
when we come to know ourselves to the fullest extent, 
when justice assumes the prerogative, and shame and 
confusion throws her dark mantle around us, and when 
it comes our turn to suffer that which we have inflicted 
upon others. 

We may think to-day we are happy that we can 
subsist in ease and comfort upon the toil and sweat of 
other men; that we can profit by their low condition, 
and fatten upon the avails of their labors. But will 
even-handed justice permit all this? Will she permit 
others to do the labor necessary to produce all the food 
and raiment for the human family, and allow me to 
pass my days in splendid idleness, and never bring me 
to a strict account? Why am I better than any of my 
fellows? Why should they toil and struggle for a 
mere pittance, and I be feasted upon their struggles, 
and know no hardship and want? Will stern, uncom- 
promising justice be satisfied with this unequal 
arrangement, and never demand that her scales be 
balanced, when the other parties have originated in 
the same great fountain of soul entities with myself? 
We may rest assured of this great self-evident fact that 



justice. 259 

even-handed, well balanced justice will overtake us 
sooner or later. If in this world we have had our 
good things and Lazarus his evil things, Lazarus must 
also have his good things and we must have our evil 
things. If the rich man's kingdom has been in this 
world, and Lazarus had none, he must have his king- 
dom also; not that Lazarus was better than the rich 
man, but that he was entitled to equal enjoyment, and 
justice demanded that each one should experience the 
same amount of suffering. There is no pretension 
even in this history that one of these persons was any 
more a favorite of the Jewish God than the other, only 
that the one had enjoyed his good things in this world, 
while the other had not. This view of the subject is 
perfectly natural and philosophical, that each individual 
intellect or soul entity having originated from the 
same source, traveled up through the various condi- 
tions in a similar manner, should be entitled to an 
equal amount of enjoyment, and that they must in 
justice endure an equal amount of suffering. 

One atomic particle or soul entity is equally as good 
as the other — there can be no difference; but in their 
progressive history it is impossible that all should be 
in the same state at the same time; there must be 
every possible variety of conditions in order to make a 
world. Yet the eternal principles of justice demands 
that each one of these soul entities should, during his 
lengthened history, experience his full equivalent of 
all the various blessings and curses. Each one must 
have the same amount of labor and rest, of joy and 
sorrow, of pleasure and pain, of light and darkness, of 
life and death, and all else that appertains to universal 



260 THE GKbPEL OF NATUKE. 

knowledge, else how shall they acquire that education 
which will prepare them for the most exalted celestial 
spheres ? So, rejoice, all ye rich men. Ye lawyers and 
judges, and ye clergymen who are enjoying fat salaries 
and easy positions in society, let your hearts cheer you, 
take and appropriate what you can obtain of the sub- 
stance of the laboring man; but know ye, for all these 
things eternal justice will sit in judgment upon you — 
the scales shall be evenly balanced, and you shall pay 
the uttermost farthing. When your intellects are 
illuminated by the light of a diviner truth than you 
can now behold, when you have passed into higher and 
purer conditions, and all the fogs and mists you have 
accumulated upon the earth are swept from your vision, 
when you have a clear view of the real facts in the 
case, your own souls can never be satisfied until you 
have restored all, and discharged all your obligations 
to your fellows, and contributed as much to their enjoy- 
ment as they have to yours. You can have no peace 
until your debts are all cancelled, and the great scales 
of justice are evenly balanced; until every party with 
whom you have been connected during all your past 
career are abundantly satisfied; until you have made 
up all your delinquencies, and stand acquitted from 
every obligation, and have worked out to the uttermost 
your own salvation. 

It cannot be supposed that any individual intellect 
can be fully unfolded, and embrace within itself a 
knowledge of all the universe contains, until they have 
acquired and incorporated into their nature every 
minutia of the principles of justice, in their broadest 
possible extent. This certainly must be a very import- 



JUSTICE. 261 

ant part of the education of superior beings, because 
there can be no entity in any possible condition, 
whether high or low, that is not entitled, and who may 
not properly claim exact justice, with the fullest assur- 
ance that during some period of its history his claims 
shall be respected, the scales shall be balanced, and he 
shall receive his due, even to the uttermost farthing. 

Libra — the balance, the eternal scales — is engraven 
upon every atomic particle that composes all of uni- 
versal matter and spirit. Each one is entitled to equal 
rights. This law and these principles diffuse them- 
selves throughout all of nature to that extent that they 
never can be eradicated in the least degree. Not a 
single soul entity can exist, no matter what its condi- 
tion, but it has equal rights with every other; and it 
demands justice at the hands of all others who have 
encroached upon its rights in any sense of the word. 
Were this not the case,^where would be our safety? 
If our individual rights could be encroached upon with 
impunity, and the aggressor by any device retain what 
he has robbed from us, what guaranty have we that 
some one else will not have all the good things during 
the eternal ages, and that we may drag out an exist- 
ence as their bond slaves, without the least shadow of 
hope? If there is no universal principle of justice 
which shall ultimately restore to every soul entity its 
full equivalent of all the enjoyment there is, then all 
hope may prove a delusion, all aspirations an idle 
phantom, all intellectual unfoldment a grand failure, 
and conscious existence an unmitigated curse. If some 
one is to be robbed eternally of their rights — of that 
which in justice belongs to them — how can we know 



262 THE GOSPEL OF NAT ORE. 

but that somebody may be ourselves ; and what security 
could we have that we might not endure the misery 
belonging to others, while they were enjoying the 
happiness belonging to ourselves? The Arab, the 
Patagonian, the Hottentot, the Tartar, or the Coman- 
che, are entitled to the same amount of happiness with 
the Christian. They must also endure an equal 
amount of suffering. It is inscribed upon the walls 
of their inner beings, in language that has never been 
confounded, that they all originated from the same 
source; that they possess inherent in their natures a 
divine patent, which gives them an absolute claim to 
their individual share of all that nature has provided 
so bountifully for each and all of her children. There 
is no power or principality in this broad universe that 
can deprive them of their equal rights, or who dare 
withhold from them one jot or tittle of that to which 
they are properly entitled. Is it their fault because 
they have come into this world in that condition of 
barbarism? Did they of their own choice bespeak 
their own nationalities? By no means. The Tartar 
was awakened to consciousness, and found himself 
upon his fleet courser, balancing his lance and pur- 
suing his enemies; the Australian aroused, and found 
himself chewing worms; and who was to blame that 
they did not awake in the midst of civilization, and 
under the influences of refined associations? Surely 
not themselves; for if blame is attached to any one, it 
must be to those powers who brought them into being 
and placed them in these unfavorable conditions. This 
fact certainly could not deprive them of one particle 
of their inherent rights, or prevent them from ulti- 



justice. 263 

mating in the highest possible knowledge and glory. 
Is it of choice that people find themselves in that 
unhappy condition that they are compelled to beg 
their bread from door to door, or that the slums of 
our cities are filled with a degraded population, who 
are wallowing in their filth and enduring all their 
wretchedness? Did all these poor people, from a pre- 
vious personal knowledge of the various phases of life, 
select the miserable one in which we find them? Then, 
if not, the fault can assuredly not rest upon their 
shoulders that they are surrounded b} 7 influences which 
render them vile and wretched. 

The poor persons who do the drudgery of those who 
are in more affluent circumstances — those who are 
obliged to toil and labor continually in order to eke 
out a precarious subsistence — certainly did not take 
this position because they chose it in preference to that 
enjoyed by those for whom they toil. They have taken 
it because dire necessity has compelled them to act in 
this capacity, or suffer for the common necessities of 
life. They or some one must take these menial or 
subordinate stations, that all the machinery of the 
world may continue in successful operation. No man 
can say that the laborer is not justly entitled to the 
position of the more wealthy employer, although it 
seems quite impossible for him to attain to any such 
easy independence; but both conditions are necessary, 
and some one must fill each particular one, from the 
lowest to the highest. If so, then each individual, 
during some portion of his eternal career, must pass 
through all the varied phases of existence, and bestow 
upon others that servitude he has received. 



264 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

This is precisely what justice demands, not only that 
every individual may obtain his equal rights, but also 
in order that every one may be qualified by practical 
experience, which alone confers absolute knowledge, to 
occupy prominent and important stations, or even to 
sit in the judgment seat and administer fairly and 
impartially upon all cases which are presented. 

If there are governments, there must be subjects as 
well as rulers, servants as well as masters, children as 
well as fathers, and all the possible conditions of life 
that may be found among a great people or upon a 
huge planet. There must be rich and poor, high and 
low, learned and ignorant, old and young, the living 
and the dead. Every condition has its opposite, and 
every one must be filled, else this would not be a world 
in the proper sense of the term. So no one need repine, 
knowing eternal justice reigns supreme, and that it 
will ultimately right all seeming wrongs and award to 
each individual entity every particle of their rightful 
inheritance, so that one shall be exactly equal with the 
other, and all shall be abundantly satisfied. 

Queen Victoria sits upon a throne to-day; her 
kingdom is of this world; her fortune gave her that 
lofty position. She may be administering her govern- 
ment with great prudence, and wearing her crown with 
becoming dignity, and perhaps filling her station to 
the entire satisfaction of her people; nevertheless, she 
has no more inherent right to a crown than the mean- 
est one of her subjects. There is no law upon the 
eternal statute books of nature that says she shall be 
queen, and retain this queenly dignity to all eternity, 
while they shall toil in servitude to contribute to her 



justice. 265 

support. But the paramount law, founded in justice, 
declares emphatically that each one is entitled to a 
crown as well, and that it is incumbent upon her to 
become a subject, giving her service and labor likewise 
to some one else who is equally entitled to a position 
such as she now occupies. 

Is it any worse for this queen to labor for the sup- 
port of some one else than it has been for them to 
labor for hers? Not one jot; and justice demands that 
she should, and never will be satisfied until she per- 
forms her full share of the necessary drudgery attached 
to this condition — until she endures her part of the 
sufferings, as well as enjoys her share of the blessings 
of living existence. 

Justice will not be satisfied, because this queen, 
when her mind is illuminated in respect to these prin- 
ciples, will not; for she cannot be satisfied with herself 
until she has discharged every obligation, until she has 
paid all her indebtedness, even to the uttermost far- 
thing. She has received all she ever had from her 
people; it has all come out of the products of their 
labors, and she is indebted to them for every farthing. 
She had no inherent right to the results of their toil 
any more than any one of her subjects had such a right 
to the results of her labors; so we perceive that justice 
requires the debt she has incurred to be cancelled, and 
the parties who enjoyed this benefit must certainly 
work it out, until the scales balance to a hair. These 
principles, when properly understood, may not be so 
encouraging for so-called royal families, and for persons 
who are born and nurtured with golden spoons in their 
mouths, who live and die in affluent ease; but they are 



266 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

extremely encouraging for the toiling sons of earth — 
those who have suffered cold, hunger and want, and 
who have been compelled to labor unceasingly to con- 
tribute to the accumulations of others. 

There has been a certain amount of food and raiment 
and other necessaries required to sustain every person 
who has lived, proportioned to the duration of earth 
life. Justice demands that each individual should 
perform an amount of useful labor sufficient to produce 
what they require for their support; but it so happens 
in this world that those who perform the least amount 
of labor enjoy the larger share of that which is pro- 
duced. They obtain the richest food, the finest and 
most expensive clothing, and by far the most comfort- 
able and commodious residences; in fact, they have 
their good things in abundance, while the other class 
endure their evil things; and justice can never be sat- 
isfied until the .scales are evenly balanced, until each 
one has worked out his own personal salvation, and 
done his equal share of the labor. 

If men of the world had learned less of vicarious 
atonements, and more of the diviner principles of 
eternal justice, there would be less scrambling after the 
riches and power that are not unfrequently gained by 
depriving other men of their inherent rights, and 
appropriating such ill-gotten gains to their own per- 
sonal aggrandizement. 

If our youths could be tutored so as to properly 
understand these principles, and realize as a truth that 
every farthing obtained by dishonesty of any character 
must be restored to the proper owner at some time, 
else the demands of justice cannot be satisfied, there 



justice. 267 

would not be the overwhelming amount of peculation 
and stealing that we now find in all grades of our 
highly civilized society. 

We are living under the influences of a Christian 
civilization, where the divine efficacy of the vicarious 
atonement is promulgated to the widest possible extent 
among all classes. This doctrine has permeated every 
avenue of social life. All our laws and civil institu- 
tions are so framed as to promote this gospel teaching 
and extend its influences. With some exceptions, our 
entire literature is surcharged with the idea of forgive- 
ness of sins of the blackest dye, and the most hardened 
criminals fall back upon this expectation, as a final 
resort to obtain expiation for all their crimes. They 
do not seem to entertain the remotest idea that 
universal justice still holds its prerogative, or that 
their crimes must necessarily produce their legitimate 
consequences, and that they must be held accountable 
to the parties whom they have outraged and injured 
for the least encroachment upon personal rights, in 
accordance with universal law. 

This system offers a direct premium to the criminal, 
and assures him that he may revel for a life time upon 
his ill-gotten gains, or steep his whole interior soul- 
nature in the blackest, foulest deeds, and finally, by 
the simple act of contrition and belief, ascend the 
golden stairs and enjoy the felicities and glories of the 
Christian's heaven forever, while his victims may be 
scorching in endless torments. 

It is from this prevailing sentiment that such soul 
sickening, though ludicrous, exhibitions take place at 
our public executions. Our authorities deem it proper 



268 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

to execute the strict demands of justice under our gov- 
ernment upon certain classes of criminals by depriving 
them of life; and it is here that we may behold scenes 
which might cause an angel or a devil to blush. Just 
behold this criminal, the principal hero and honored 
personage of the occasion; he alone is permitted to 
escape from all the toils, vexations and miseries of an 
earthly life, and enter at once into the joys held in 
reserve for the pure and holy. He has been labored 
with by the clergy, and he has availed himself of the 
benefits of atoning grace; and he is fully prepared to 
meet death, not only with a cheering hope, but a 
triumphant knowledge of the pardon of all his sins and 
iniquities, and he swings from the gallows into the 
arms of the ever-blessed Jesus. And I suppose Jesus 
has got to receive him, no matter how degraded, how 
low and miserably steeped in depravity, or how much 
time it might require, in accordance with natural law, 
to unfold and redeem him from his wretched condition 
of interior filthiness. Jesus must clasp this murdering 
villain in his loving arms, and introduce him to the 
delectable society of the New Jerusalem as a genial 
associate and loving companion for the highest and 
holiest inhabitant of the Christian's home in glory. 
He must be furnished with a brand-new harp and an 
entire outfit — palms of victory, crowns of glory, and 
spotless robes of beauty— and he commences his new 
career of singing praises and shouting hallelujahs under 
as favorable auspices as the most devout Christian who 
ever wore out his life in working for his God. 

And now, while this blood -washed imp of darkness 
is tuning his harp and singing his songs of redeeming 



justice. 269 

love and partaking of angels' food, what can we sup- 
pose has become of the victims of his brutal, blood- 
thirsty passions, whom he has basely murdered, 
together with all who were depending upon them for 
protection and sustenance? Were they not a part of 
this universe also; had they no natural inherent claims 
upon justice; could their rights be invaded and sac- 
rificed by any cold-blooded scoundrel with perfect 
impunity, without any shadow of a chance to obtain 
redress? This scoundrel has sent perhaps numerous 
human souls into the spirit spheres, unanointed by the 
purifying blood of any Savior, with all their sins upon 
their heads, without time or space for repentance, or 
the needed preparation, and an eternal hell must be 
their portions; and justice demands that these, as well 
as all other wrongs consequent upon his act, should be 
righted. 

What does the Christian religion propose to do in 
this case? Nothing; only let the poor victim burn and 
burn beneath the angry frown of an infinite Jehovah 
during eternal ages, dragging on an unspeakably hor- 
rible existence, while the foul fiend who perpetrated 
all these enormities is reveling in the enjoyments that 
Jesus has provided for all those who believe in this 
most abominable vicarious atonement. 

Such is the very genius of that Christianity which 
has been handed down to us through the dark ages of 
the past; and these Christian teachers have never con- 
templated that justice is a universal element in nature, 
permeating with its purifying influences the entire 
fabric, both material and spiritual. 

If such a principle as justice is supposed to exist 



270 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

here in our materialized condition, and we appeal to 
its divine precepts in adjudicating in our earthly 
courts, how much more shall we find it in all its regal 
glory in the higher, more spiritual spheres; and how 
much more may we expect to find all the affairs of 
those spheres arranged in accordance with its imperi- 
ous demands? 

But the Christian religion makes no provisions in 
any of its complex and mystified machinery by which 
exact justice may be dealt to every individual, so that 
each may obtain an equitable share of enjoyment as 
well as of endurance. It never contemplated any such 
thing; it only proposed to bestow its favors on a 
chosen few — upon a very limited class — and for all 
others it affords nothing but anathemas and curses. 
It is based upon the principle that this impoverished 
universe contains only a very meagre supply of good 
things ; that by some unfortunate mishap almost all 
that was really worth having was destroyed, so that the 
whole stock in trade of happiness or enjoyment would 
not be sufficient to supply the needs of a hundredth 
part of the human race, while the quantity of evil 
things is unbounded. There is an ample supply for 
all; in fact, there is an overwhelming surplus, so that 
however great may be the demand, the Christian's God 
will always, during all eternities, be enabled to meet 
every emergency. Hence it is that this marvelous 
plan of salvation, by virtue of a vicarious atonement, 
has made provisions for so limited a number, by 
making the terms such that no honorable, high-minded 
person, whose mind is illuminated by the divine prin- 
ciples of even-handed justice, can possibly accept. 



JUSTICE. 271 

Could any individual who is endowed with an honor- 
able self-respect enter into a dastardly scheme of so- 
called salvation, which is devoid of every principle of 
equity, and which finally ultimates in furnishing a few 
chosen ones with all the good and glorious things that 
the universe provides, while the great mass are not 
only deprived of these enjoyments, but forced to endure 
excruciating torments during endless periods of time? 

When the contemptible meanness and abominable 
rascality that permeates this system of robbery called 
the plan of redemption through the vicarious atone- 
ment, is fully understood and appreciated, and when 
the human race have a realizing sense of the great fact 
that the diviner elements of justice pervade and must 
govern all with unfailing precision, we may expect to 
behold a complete revolution in the affairs of human 
society. Let us wait with serenity and comparative 
patience until the processes of evolution unfold our 
planet to that higher and happier period in her history. 
She has thus far been plodding her way slowly yet 
surely along from the cruder to the more refined and 
purified; and we find humanity in a corresponding 
state of unfoldment. Neither are finished, or approxi- 
mate a state of completion ; for long, very long before 
any such result can take place the pure principles of 
undying justice shall assume their prerogative, and 
hold universal sway. 



CHAPTEE VII. 

THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 

Death, when fully understood in all its connections, 
will no doubt present such a collection of facts and 
principles as to be very appropriately termed a science, 
and one, too, of vital interest to the inquiring mind. 
We find ourselves surrounded upon all sides, and our 
pathway is every moment beset and strewn by the 
influences of that which we call death; and it would 
seem to have quite as much to do with our existence 
as life, if not more, for out of death has come all life, 
and unto death all life returns; so it seems to be the 
beginning as well as the end, the alpha as well as the 
omega of all things. Death is, evidently, but a state 
of rest and quietude — an absence of all consciousness, 
a release from all suffering and pain, and an entire 
cessation of all activities. The death of an organized 
form seems to be attended by a dissolution of the 
particles of which such form was composed; but it 
certainly cannot destroy or annihilate these particles 
— it simply separates and changes them. 

Death has been considered by most men a curse 
rather than a blessing; it has been called a monster, 
tyrant, and fell destroyer; and we have been taught to 
look upon it with a sort of dread and unnatural horror; 
we have shrunk from its approach as if it was an 
enemy designing to deprive us of all our possessions 

(272) 



THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 273 

of every description. It lias been looked npon by a 
large portion of the Christian world as not properly 
belonging to the natural universe, but that it came 
into existence as a sort of after-thought of the creator, 
in consequence of a certain contingency. They have 
represented that the being who produced this and all 
other worlds was not exactly aware that death would 
be required in the whole programme, and that its 
introduction was made entirely dependent upon the 
course which should be pursued by a certain female in 
reference to some very nice looking fruit which grew 
in a garden then occupied by herself and husband. 

The most intelligent clergymen and believers in the 
Christian faith have for centuries taught, and are still 
teaching, that this whole matter concerning the intro- 
duction of death into the natural universe, or this 
world in particular, was in the hands of a simple, 
inexj)erienced couple of individuals, who lived upon a 
small plot of ground called Eden, somewhere near the 
river Euphrates, or some distance eastward from the 
so-called Holy Land. They have taught us authorita- 
tively that this extensive department of nature was 
brought into existence solely because this innocent pair 
was over-persuaded to eat an apple which was inter- 
dicted by the great Being to whom they attribute the 
creation of the earth; and this mythical story has 
gained such general credence among men in the most 
civilized portions of the world, that persons are 
denounced as Infidels, and called even worse names, 
who do not accept it as an infallible truth. 

However, we are of opinion that a little inquiry 
concerning the science of death will convince most 
18 



274 THE GOSPEL OF NATDKE. 

minds that it is an element so all-pervading, so inter- 
woven into all conditions of material existence, that it 
could not by any means have had the least dependence 
upon eating an apple, even if God himself had eaten 
it instead of the woman. 

The very elemental principle of death, like that of 
life and progression, is most evidently inherently con- 
nected with all particles of material substance, and 
must accompany them through all their changes and 
modifications ; and there can be no order of intelligent 
beings who could possibly prevent the introduction of 
death into this or any other world, because each intel- 
ligent being has been as much dependent upon death 
as upon life for all his experiences and all the conse- 
quent intelligence in his possession. Death, then, is 
as natural as life, and quite as necessary to the well 
being and unfoldment of all living entities. It is not 
an enemy, and should not by any means be looked 
upon as a curse, but cherished as one of the richest 
blessings which nature has in reserve for us in her 
great storehouse. 

It can hardly be supposed that the very large class 
of humanity who are really of the opinion that death 
came into the world in consequence of sin or trans- 
gression, have ever given much attention to the science 
of death, or have ever entered into any extended 
investigations in regard to its real origin or the rela- 
tion it sustains to all things upon the earth; for we 
trust a cursory inquiry into the real nature of this 
universal element called death would disabuse their 
minds of any such shallow, unphilosophical ideas. The 
grand question, so far as bible believers are concerned, 



THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 275 

is, did death commence its career upon this earth after 
the creation of Adam, or is it an eternal principle or 
element which has existed coeval with all things, and 
which permeates every particle of matter or elemental 
principle in existence? 

Without particularly adverting to the chronological 
discrepancy that occurs concerning the production or 
creation of the man Adam, we simply notice that it is 
recorded that " The Lord God formed man of the dust 
of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath 
of life, and man became a living soul." The question 
would seem to arise at this point whether all the forces 
and elements of nature were in full and active opera- 
tion previous to this event, or whether a universal 
revolution took place in her great laboratory during 
the time this first pair remained in the garden. 
Another question of importance seems to present itself 
for our consideration : Does the language quoted con- 
template that the body which the Lord God formed 
from the dust of the earth was dead before He breathed 
into his nostrils the breath of life? 

We must think it very clear that if man only became 
a living soul after the breathing process, he must have 
been dead to all intents previous to that very import- 
ant operation; and we may inquire, very properly, if 
this process was necessary in order to bestow life, what 
thing else but death could have existed in the absence 
of that life which was produced by this act of breathing 
into the nostrils of this lifeless lump of clay which he 
had formed? There were just two elements connected 
with this transaction — life and death. In the absence 
of death there was life, and in the absence of life there 



276 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

must have been death; if not, why was it necessary to 
breathe into the nostrils of this thing in order to pro- 
duce life? Then it must be conceded that there was, 
upon that hypothesis, such a thing as death before 
life, its proper antagonism, was infused into the body 
which subsequently became the first man, Adam; and 
when this is admitted to be the case, the assumption 
of all the subsequent authors, who declare that death 
came by Adam, is an exceedingly shallow pretension, 
without the least shadow of foundation. 

Again, if this first man had a beginning, and there 
was a particular time when life came, or was brought 
to exist within him, previous to that time, all the 
material particles of which the man was composed 
must have been devoid of that life, or, in other words, 
they must have been locked in the embrace of death. 
We cannot avoid the conclusion that this first man, 
who was said, at a certain stage in the operation that 
resulted in his production, to have been a living soul, 
must have been eternally such, else there was a time 
when he was a dead soul. 

Our friends may take which horn of this dilemma 
they choose. If this man was a living soul from all 
eternity, then God did not make him such by his 
breath; and if he was not, then death did not come 
into the world by him, because it was in existence 
before he lived. 

If this special divine afflatus which was breathed 
into the nostrils, was necessary in order to produce 
life in this instance, from whence came that life which 
existed previously in the vegetable kingdom; in the 
great whale and those living things which inhabited 



THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 277 

the water; also, in the cattle and creeping things and 
beasts of the earth. The life existing in most of these 
organized forms, which were produced previous to 
the human, is so intimately related to that in man, 
that no philosopher can possibly show the distinction; 
and jet, we do not learn that it required any breathing 
to bring it all into existence from the lowest to the 
highest. We do not learn even that it required any 
kind of process to ultimate all those complicated 
organized structures, that seem to be but a step below 
the human; and which are evidently just as import- 
ant in the great scale of being as the human, or any 
other condition of living existence. However this 
may be, the record, if it teaches any thing, clearly 
presents to the mind the idea that previous to the 
existence of all this active, moving panorama of 
living organizations, there was nothing but one 
widespread scene of desolation and death; for, most 
assuredly, when the earth was without form, and it 
was void, and universal darkness was upon the face 
of the deep, Death must have reigned triumphantly 
over this wild scene of chaotic confusion. Then, was 
death a new thing that could be brought into exist- 
ence and used as a sort of penalty for disobedience, 
when it is shown by this record to have existed during 
all the eternal darkness that preceded that auspicious 
moment in which this God said let there be light and 
there was light, and when life and activity was said to 
have been brought out of this chaos and death, which 
could have had no beginning? 

If we could by any means suppose that human life 
originated in this breathing of the Hebrew God into 



278 THE GOSPEL OF NATUEE. 

the nostrils of the first man, we should very naturally 
conclude that it would be continued in the same man- 
ner; for life being a positive element is exhaustive of 
its own resources, and is in constant need of recuper- 
ation. It is continually wasting its energies, and is 
incessantly requiring to be renewed by those elements 
from which it draws its support, and without which 
it could not continue to exist for a single hour. It 
may well seem strange to us, who do not understand 
this matter, why the breathing process did not con- 
tinue; for, if life originated in that element, and that 
alone, how can it be recuperated, constantly renewed 
and universally sustained by elements of such a dif- 
ferent character? How can this important element 
of life within us, which originated from a source so 
supereminently above man, be hourly reproduced and 
supplied from elements which are so far below him? 
If it required "the breath of an almighty, infinite God 
to produce life in a human being in that instance, 
how, in the name of all that is wonderful, has it been 
produced and sustained ever since by the use of a 
little meat and vegetables? How can two elements 
so inconceivably different in their character and prop- 
erties, be brought to bear and ultimate in the same 
grand result? Theology and philosophy both, in the 
contemplation of this interesting subject, are com- 
pelled to make a terrible acrobatic descent, from 
the inconceivably purified and sublimated breath of 
the ever living Jehovah down to the pork and cabbage 
found in the market, or in the culinary department 
of the domestic establishment. 

But, we leave this curious and troublesome enigma 



THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 279 

for bible believers to grapple with as best they may, 
while we proceed to a consideration of other portions 
of this instructive science; and, in pursuing our 
researches, we doubt not we shall find that life in 
every instance can only be sustained or produced by 
the death of some organized forms found in nature; 
and that life essences and elements are in all cases 
gathered from that which is below instead of from 
that which is above. We may easily ascertain that 
the breath coming from a being so intensely spirit- 
ualized, and sublimated, as to have become capable of 
constructing all the spiritual as well as material 
machinery connected with this and all other worlds, 
would, in no sense of the word, be adapted to the 
gross physical forms found upon the earth. If he 
had been creating a race of young Gods designed 
purposely to exist in the spiritual abodes, his breath 
might have been better adapted to their condition, 
but it was said that he was creating from dust, which 
is a very gross substance indeed, merely coarse, physical 
beings, who were designed to dwell here upon this 
material earth and derive their subsistence and con- 
tinued life from the gross material things which must 
grow out of the earth. Common sense would tell us 
that if he understood his business, he would have 
infused into this gross physical body of the first man, 
that peculiar kind of element which would have sus- 
tained his life in after years, elements which no spirit- 
ual beings have in their possession ; because they have 
ultimated to higher conditions, so that the coarsest 
particle connected with an advanced spiritual organ- 
ism, would be far too etherealized to be endured by 



280 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

physical beings. Man cannot endure the influences 
of electro magnetism to any great extent, because 
these elements are too sublimated and powerful in 
their character ; how then could he endure the breath 
of a spiritualized being who has no element in his 
nature but those far more etherealized than electro 
magnetism. Such a breath, instead of imparting life 
to a coarse physical organism, would have immedi- 
ately produced the opposite result; even if the body 
had been living, because the higher sublimated spirit- 
ual elements are so powerful in their character that 
they penetrate and dissolve coarser materials. 

We have remarked already that we obtain the 
element of life from that which is below, and not 
from that which is above and beyond us; because, 
more spiritualized beings have lain down that which 
would sustain physical life, and retain in possession 
only that which is adapted to a spiritual existence. 
Dominion was given unto the first pair from the 
outset over all the beasts of the field, the fish of the 
sea, and every green thing that grew upon the earth, 
and they were authorized to appropriate all those 
things in accordance with their various uses, as would 
suit their own convenience, and of course to eat that 
which was adapted to the appetite with which they 
had been provided. How singular! that it became 
necessary to destroy life, and thus produce death, 
before they could taste the first morsel of food of 
any description, or before that food could, by passing 
through the digestive process, become suitable nour- 
ishment for the physical system. If they plucked 
the green herb, they must destroy the life of that 



THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 281 

herb; if they tasted fruit, it was the same. If they 
partook of the fish from the stream, the fowl from 
the air, or the fatling from the pasture, death must 
ensue before they could satisfy the cravings of their 
hunger. Thus, it becomes very palpable, that the 
lives of these individuals was entirely dependent 
upon the death of something that existed in a lower 
condition; for, they could not have remained in the 
garden comfortably a single day unless they had 
destroyed the life and thus caused the death of some 
member of either the animal or vegetable kingdom. 
It becomes, then, a self-evident fact that death was 
not an afterthought; that it did not originate in con- 
sequence of any transgression committed by our early 
ancestors, even if we depend entirely upon this record 
for all evidences in relation to the subject, as we are 
compelled to conclude that the same means which 
would take the life of an animal in order that it 
might be eaten, would take the life of the man also. 

If we admit the possibility of destroying life and 
thus producing death before the fall, we also admit 
that such a thing as death was an element in exist- 
ence, and how can it be said it was produced by any 
act upon the part of man? Then, how extremely 
childish was it at the first to promulgate an idea of 
this character, and how worse than puerile to con- 
tinue the propagation of such a silly dogma in this 
more enlightened nineteenth century? 

There are probably few sane persons at the present 
day who could be made to believe that it would have 
been an impossibility to have drawn all the life cur- 
rents from the veins and arteries of the man Adam 



282 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

or the woman Eve previous to the nibbling of the 
wonderful apple, or that their abstraction would not 
have produced death the same as after. It cannot be 
denied by intelligent persons, that there were forces 
in nature at that day quite sufficient to have torn 
those persons to fragments, or crushed them to atoms, 
or burned them to ashes. Would not water have suf- 
focated them, fire burned them, electro magnetism 
have pierced them through, or corrosive sublimate 
poisoned them? Did not all these things exist? If 
not, what kind of a world was this that the all wise 
Creator called so very good before it was half fin- 
ished, before all the elemental forces which render 
the world such a magnificent piece of machinery at 
the present time were brought into existence? The 
book says, " the heavens and the earth were finished, 
and all the host of them "; and, if that was the case, 
then all the elements appertaining to the earth must 
have been brought into full activity. There must 
have been inertia as well as activity, death as well as 
life, and all else belonging to a world in a state of 
completion must have been in full operation, else the 
world was unfinished, and the book proclaims an 
untruth. 

We trust we have said sufficient to render it per- 
fectly clear beyond all possible cavil, that physical 
death was an elemental principle in nature, which 
could not have been introduced into the world in 
consequence of any act performed by physical man, 
and as yet we have barely glanced at the subject 
principally from a bible stand point. We have not 
entered the vast reading room of nature, and opened 



THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 283 

any of the pages which are so indelibly impressed 
with the elements of death, as well as of life and 
activity, which present undisputed evidence of their 
having existed in the natural realms from all the 
eternities of the past. We have not attempted to 
unfold the stratified leaves of the sedimentary rocks 
which are so profusely imprinted with mementos 
proving beyond any shadow of doubt, if such proof 
is needed, that death existed in every conceivable 
form for innumerable ages before man made his 
appearance in the world. We leave this broad and 
instructive field of research to those who are more 
intimately acquainted with the minutia of geological 
science, simply remarking that entirely sufficient has 
already been written upon that matter to utterly 
annihilate every vague and ridiculous idea presented 
in the Mosaic history of so-called creation. 

How long, oh how long! shall intelligent minds 
accept as infallible truth, the senseless twaddle con- 
tained in this visionary legend that constitutes the 
three first chapters of the Jewish and Christian Bible, 
and which is the foundation of all this vast super- 
structure — this huge fabric denominated the univer- 
sal Christian church, whose bloody Ishmaelitish arm 
has been raised against every man who has dared to 
oppose its triumphal march. 

But we are told that this transgression of our first 
parents produced a spiritual death, or the death of the 
spirit. If so, then we may inquire how the spirit 
can continue to have life and existence? if men all 
died spiritually in Adam, then how is it possible that 
all men should have possessed spirits during all the 



284 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

ages since that period ? Well, we are answered, that 
is not exactly the thing, but the spirit died morally, 
or the moral nature of the spirit died; and thus men 
became dead in trespasses and sins. Let us inquire 
a little into this matter. We have learned that the 
spirit or soul existing in man must necessarily be 
composed of essences or etherealized atoms so fine 
that they are capable of permeating the physical 
organism; that unless it is composed of material sub- 
stance it is nothing, and has no existence; that this 
soul entity is an accumulation of powers and faculties 
which enables it to act in its particular capacity, and 
that its true character depends upon its condition of 
unfoldment. It has been alleged that some portion 
of this spiritual organism in man has been killed, or 
that it has died from the effects of the apple eaten by 
our ancestors; and that it can only be restored again 
to life and activity through the death of an individual 
called Jesus, who lived and died some four thousand 
years after the apple was eaten. It has been repre- 
sented that the most virtuous or moral portion of 
the spirit died, or was thus destroyed, and that the 
immoral or most sinful portion was left in its full 
vigor and activity; that from this cause men became 
exceedingly immoral and corrupt, and have so con- 
tinued till the present day, with the exception of that 
portion of the race who have believed this story, and 
also believed that the death of this individual, Jesus, 
was designed to correct, to the fullest extent, the 
fatal effects of the apple eaten by the first pair. It 
is asserted that this pair were produced, body and 
soul, by an infinite and unchangeable God, and that 



THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 285 

he looked upon thein when they were finished, and 
pronounced them not only good, but "very good"; 
he was well pleased with the work, and pronounced 
his self-gratulations upon the subject in an emphatic 
manner. There can be no doubt, if we judge from a 
careful reading of the text, he done his best to make 
this crowning effort of all his six days' labor a model 
of perfection; for, to say the least, he had it all in 
his own hands, with infinite wisdom to design and 
power to construct, and after it was finished he 
exultingly expressed his perfect satisfaction with 
the achievement. How very strange, then, that we 
should find this wonderful machine that is said to 
have called into requisition all the united wisdom 
and power of the entire Godhead in its construction, 
within a few days from the time of its completion, 
like a rickety old clock, all out of repair, its compli- 
cated wheel- work all in confusion, and the very best 
and grandest portion of the whole concern lying in 
the cold embrace of death. 

After taking a single glance at the ridiculous aspect 
of this case, it would seem quite unnecessary to pur- 
sue the subject any further, but the obstinate conser- 
vatism of mankind is such that they cling with an 
undying tenacity to old fossilized ideas, without 
regard to their improbability or absurdity, and it 
becomes necessary to show them up in all their 
hideous deformity before they can be persuaded to 
release their unyielding grasp. 

We have already shown, and we challenge contra- 
diction, that the intellect, the soul or the inmost 
spiritual nature of man — that which permeates and 



286 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

controls his physical organism — is endowed with 
certain organs or faculties which are all required in 
order to constitute man an intelligent being in the 
proper sense of the term. We now simply remark 
that it is utterly impossible for any or all the theo- 
logians in existence to prove that any single one of 
the organs which are attached to the human intellect 
have ever, at any time, ceased their activities since 
they have been unfolded in the mentalities of individ- 
ualized humanity. If any such wonderful revolution 
had ever taken place in respect to the human spiritual 
organization — if any portion of individualized men- 
tality had ceased its active operations, or died, and 
then at a subsequent period had been restored to 
activity and life again — most assuredly some one 
would have known something about such a remark- 
able event, and the pages of history would certainly 
have recorded such a marvelous era connected with 
human existence. But all history is silent upon any 
subject of this character — it reveals nothing which 
would indicate that such might have been the case. 
In fact the first pair are represented to have con- 
ducted themselves in a very becoming and sensible 
manner after this apple transaction occurred, whereas 
at that time, while in a state of purity, they are said 
to have committed the terrible sin against God which 
involved their entire posterity in its unhappy conse- 
quences. With great confidence we bid defiance to 
any or all theologians to bring the least evidence 
tending to prove that man has universally lost any 
part of his spiritual nature by an act of any one 
or two individuals, or that he has regained that which 



THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 287 

was so lost at any subsequent period, by the suffering 
or death of any other individual. We also challenge 
them to show in any manner that those who profess 
to enjoy all the benefits of this restoration through 
Christ from the spiritual death entailed upon the 
children of man in consequence of Adam's trans- 
gression, are in any way superior mentally, or that 
they possess any greater spiritual activities and life 
elements than those who make no such profession. 
On the contrary, it can very easily be shown that the 
more sprightly, vigorous and really live intellects of 
the present time are outside the pale of the church; 
and that the independently active, thinking minds 
are getting out as fast as possible. 

Again, we are told that this original sin was pro- 
ductive of an eternal death; which, of course, must 
imply the entire death of the spiritual nature, or what 
is still worse, they say it will result in the eternal 
misery of all those who do not make strenuous 
endeavors to escape the consequences of that death, 
by an application of the only remedy, which may be 
found in another death that occurred about four 
thousand years subsequent to the first. It would 
be impossible to find in all Pagan literature any ideas 
connected with subjects of this character more ridic- 
ulous and absurd, or more devoid of every vestige of 
common sense, than the ideas generally received and 
adopted by the Christian world in regard to the fall 
or death of mankind, by this so-called original sin of 
Adam and his consort in the mythical garden of Eden. 
There are other dogmas which have been connected 
with the religious opinions of various ages and races 



288 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

of men, that would seem to have some commingling 
shadow of natural truth interwoven among their gen- 
eral incongruities; but this one concerning the origin 
of death is so entirely destitute of any scintillation 
of intelligence, that it may well challenge comparison 
in this respect, and yet that superficial reasoner, Paul, 
discovered in this what he supposed to be an astound- 
ing fact, and announced this strange enigma to the 
churches of his time, " As in Adam we all die, so in 
Christ shall we all be made alive"; and the teachers 
and believers in this curious doctrine, parrot like, 
have reiterated this saying of Paul during all the 
ages from that day to the present. But why did not 
Paul, and why do not his followers, look out into the 
great universe and find some analogous truth, or 
introduce some process of reasoning that may throw 
some ray of light upon this mysterious subject? All 
those things, if they took place, were enacted inside 
the natural realms; they were performed after the 
world with all its active, moving machinery was in 
successful operation, and if this wonderful event took 
place, there was a law by which it was accomplished; 
for no event can transpire inside the natural universe, 
unless there is a law which renders the doing of that 
thing possible. 

Why did not this wonderfully sagacious epistolary 
reasoner, Paul, show us the natural process by which 
death was introduced, instead of making the bare 
assertion, thus leaving the problem to be solved by 
minds in after ages? And why do not the profound 
thinkers of the present time show how such a thing 
could have been possible in accordance with eternal 



THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 289 

laws that universally prevail? For, if eternal death 
of any character made its first appearance in this 
world at that particular period, then all before that 
time must have been eternal life, as either one or the 
other, or both, must have existed in all possible con- 
ditions. If none of the deaths of which man is said 
to have died in consequence of the fall of Adam were 
in existence previous to that time, let some one inform 
us how all the moving machinery of this planet could 
perform its evolutions and proceed with its activities 
entirely independent of the changes which can only 
be produced by death. 

It becomes necessary, then, to understand to a cer- 
tain extent the science of death, to obtain a clear and 
comprehensive view of this subject; and we trust, 
when we obtain a tolerable knowledge of that science, 
we may discover that humanity have followed, in this 
instance, one of the most stupid delusions ever intro- 
duced into this lower world. It is an unmitigated 
humbug, of that peculiar completeness as not to con- 
tain the least scintillation or faintest shadowing of 
truth, entirely manufactured from wild vagaries 
existing in the brain of some enthusiastic indi- 
vidual who lived in the earlier ages of the world. 
Upon underground mudsills of this character have 
been built up all the ideas connected with a vicarious 
atonement for sin, and a restoration from these several 
deaths. And upon this vicarious atonement has been 
erected the huge mythical fabric known as the Chris- 
tian church, which has swelled into such enormous 
proportions, and but for its increasing divisions would 
sway the destinies of the entire human race at the 
19 



290 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

present time. It still remains, then, for many por- 
tions of the vast arcana of the natural realms to bo 
explored, that delusions of this character which have 
so long overshadowed men, hung about their necks, 
and lain upon the breasts of the multitudes like a 
frightful nightmare, should be dispelled. It would 
seem to be time that the human mind should be illu- 
minated in regard to subjects of this nature; high 
time for them to learn that no such universal element 
as death could have been introduced into this world 
in an y such manner; but that death, like life, in all 
its possible forms, constitutes a part, and is a par- 
cel of the same, as all other departments of nature's 
extended realms. 

Death, then, is a scientific fact, which underlies the 
philosophy of progression; and but for the changes 
produced by death, which is but another name for 
change, the ceaseless wheels of progressive unfold- 
ment could not move forward. It is by this con- 
tinual dying to one condition, and merging into 
another, which prevails so universally in nature, that 
she has unfolded herself in this wonderful manner. 
It is by this process that all things have been fash- 
ioned into their varied forms; and how many untold 
billions of deaths must have occurred before the 
human organism could have been constructed. Man 
has not inhaled a breath of atmosphere, but it was 
attended by the death of myriads of living beings; 
he never drank a cup of water, without swallowing 
unnumbered multitudes of infusoria who yielded up 
their lives in order to quench his thirst; he never 
tasted a morsel of food, but death ensued to those 



THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 291 

living entities which composed the food he had eaten. 
Thus every animal has only continued his existence 
in life by the death of all the elements which have 
contributed to the support of that life which he 
enjoyed; his life has been supported by the living 
element which existed in those substances he has con- 
sumed; and he could not have availed himself of the 
benefit of that living element, unless that which was 
eaten or drank was deprived of it, and in this manner 
suffered death. 

When we trace living forms and organisms through 
their innumerable changes back to their primitive 
condition where all the material of which our world 
is composed was inconceivably diffusive, existing in 
the vast elemental ocean of space, we shall find that 
one universal death had controlled all, until this entire 
quiet and inactivity was disturbed by some power 
possessing ability to produce motion. All life is 
based upon, and proceeds from death, and active life 
can only be sustained by the death of that upon which 
it feeds. There cannot be a doubt but death and inac- 
tivity reign supreme out in the boundless regions of 
space, where no planetary influence extends, and where 
nothing but coldness and darkness hold universal sway. 

The believers in the Christian dogma of which we 
have been speaking, must admit that all the chaotic 
material from which our world was formed, existed in 
the quiet condition of darkness and death previous to 
its formation; else they accept the impossible theory 
of making something out of nothing, which very few 
would like to acknowledge. Then we find it necessary 
to awaken the element of life and activity, instead 



292 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

of death and inactivity, into all material particles, 
because those infinitesimal atoms must have been in 
the quiet embrace of death before they were aroused 
into newness of life, and thus prepared to enter upon 
their eternal career. 

The infallible testimony of the entire range of 
Paleozoic rocks unfold a most instructive lesson 
concerning the science of death, as well as the phi- 
losophy of progression; this testimony also flatly 
contradicts the assertion of Paul and the modern 
clergy, that death came into the world by man's 
transgression; as it clearly proves that death had 
been an inhabitant of the earth from the remotest 
period of its history. The language inscribed upon 
these truthful pages of nature's A r olume emphatically 
declares that life and death went hand in hand in the 
great work of elaborating a world and unfolding it to 
that condition in which it would be possible for the 
higher order of organized beings to find suitable 
elementary sustenance, and a proper field in which 
to exercise their varied powers. The mineral king- 
dom has unfolded and graduated into the vegetable 
by such easy and diminutive steps, that it is quite 
impossible to say exactly where the one left off and 
the other commenced ; and all this was done by the 
death of the lower forms, and by a gradual merging 
into those which were somewhat higher. There are 
certain departments in these two different kingdoms 
which approximate so nearly to each other that it is 
quite impossible to discriminate between the inor- 
ganic and the organic. It is conceded that vegetable 
life must have preceded animal existence, because the 



THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 293 

animal could only have subsisted upon the vegetable, 
although it is extremely difficult to determine this 
question from any fossiliferous remains exhibited in 
the early formations. It is supposed also that marine 
vegetables preceded any terrestrial plants, and how 
nearly allied to the mineral kingdom must have been 
that vegetable food that supplied the wants of the 
radiata, the Crustacea and the marine shells of the 
early Devonian period; and in fact how gross must be 
the 'character of that sustenance that enters into the 
composition of the oyster shell of the present period. 
The dividing line between the vegetable and animal 
organisms is extremely vague, uncertain, and difficult 
of detection, as the order of zoophytes seem to extend 
far beyond the boundaries in either direction, and bind 
these two kingdoms together by an unbroken link, 
which makes them inseparable. Thus it becomes clear 
that those elements of life and death have existed side 
by side in every conceivable form, rising one above the 
other in almost imperceptible gradations, and that it 
was perfectly impossible for an individualized life to 
exist in but one of these conditions at a time. When 
it was alive in one it was dead to all others. There is 
upon nature's records abundant evidence that the very 
lowest orders of individualized life existed anterior to 
the higher order, and that progressive unfoldment has 
marked the pathway of these ascending grades during 
all the inconceivable ages of the past. It is quite 
unnecessary for us to repeat the technical names of all 
these different species or races of organized living 
beings, with their chronological period of existence 
upon the earth, as delineated throughout the various 



294 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

strata of the paleozoic rocks. This information is 
scattered profusely through the pages of most of the 
standard geological works which have been so oppor- 
tunely presented to the world in this age of general 
inquiry and research; and quite sufficient has been 
ascertained and written to prove conclusively that 
death in every possible form has been working out its 
evolutionary problems for interminable ages upon our 
own earth, however youthful it may be represented in 
bible history. 

The Christian world has been exceedingly anxious 
to prove that the extended geologic periods were a 
myth, and that all the occurrences which are so graph- 
ically unfolded upon the indurate pages of the rocks 
might have transpired within a few hundred or thou- 
sand years at most, as if nature had been niggardly of 
time, and had performed her vast operations in a 
hurried manner. 

There are very many men, even at the present time, 
who really suppose all the innumerable labors per- 
formed in the great universe have been crowded into 
the past six thousand years; as if all the time antece- 
dent to these few years had been of no value, and that 
the preceding eternities were not conducive to those 
evolutions which have been in activity without com- 
mencement. Yet, sedimentary deposits, which are 
composed of infinitesimal particles that sometimes 
form in layers of the thickness of paper, have accumu- 
lated, it is said, to the depth of nearly ten. miles, all 
strewn with the remains of individualized life and 
death. There may be found accumulations of a micro- 
scopic crustaceous animal, called the cypris, occurring 



THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 295 

in immense quantities, and forming stratas from seven 
hundred to one thousand feet in thickness; and yet 
these shells are so extremely minute as to require 
41,000,000,000 to make a cubic inch. How many 
untold millions of ages must have been required for 
nature to have performed all her vast labors of every 
description upon our planet! Let us stop and reflect 
that our written historic period has marked no appre- 
ciable geologic change upon the earth; for no mind is 
capable of approximating toward an estimate of the 
length of time required to form one foot of alluvial 
deposit over the surface of the entire globe. What, 
then, must have been the amount of time which has 
elapsed since organized forms of vegetable and animal 
life, and consequent death, made their appearance in 
the lower silurian formation? All human attempts at 
computation are vain, and the mind is only bewildered 
in their contemplation. 

The universe of nature has certainly existed from all 
the countless eternities which have preceded; and what 
has she been doing, if not working out these mighty 
problems? It cannot be a more favorable time now 
for her operations than it ever lias been; and why 
should she not have been performing her wonders 
millions of ages in the past as well as at the present? 
If huge mountains have been built by the coral polyps, 
or the microscopic animalcules, it was only done 
through their death. If higher forms of organic life 
existed in one geologic period than did in the pre- 
ceding, the change was only effected by innumerable 
deaths, as every individualized form of life must die 
to one condition before it can enter into another. It 



THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

is the same with man; we cannot possibly go higher 
until we die to the state we now occupy. Thus, with 
every other form of life, both above and below man, 
nothing can go higher until it dies to the condition in 
which it now exists. Then how ridiculous to suppose 
that death was introduced into the world as a curse or 
a punishment for sin, when it is unmistakably a part 
of the machinery of the planet, and so essential in its 
nature that all its wheel work would directly cease in 
its operations without this important element. 

How superlatively beautiful this whole arrangement, 
from its apparent beginning in the vast elemental 
ocean of infinitesimal particles up to the ultimatum, 
if there is such a thing, or to the most exalted spiritual 
power and wisdom; each atom possessing within itself, 
in a latent or inactive state, every element necessary 
for its final unfoldment, and by this continued process 
of living and d} 7 ing, or changing forms, passing up 
through all possible intervening conditions, from the 
lowest to the highest, living all the lives and dying all 
the deaths, and thus obtaining all the experiences 
found in this interminable journey of existence. We 
challenge all the philosophers in the civilized world to 
find any other material except the atomic particle from 
which anything can be constructed or in any manner 
formed, whether it be a world or an organized being, 
either material or spiritual. We further challenge 
them to devise any practical method by which such 
atoms or essences can be elaborated and unfolded into 
living organizations except by this process of death, or 
change from one form or state to another. Here we 
find a sufficiency of material in one dark abyss, filled 



THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 297 

with chaos and night, as the theologians say we are 
taught by Moses, or one great space ocean of atomic 
particles, nebulous matter, or primal elemental princi- 
ples, as taught by the philosopher. Resulting from 
this sea of death we now behold a living, moving 
world, peopled with all the forms of vegetable and 
animal life, together with this seeming grand ulti- 
matum, a highly endowed, intellectual being we call 
man. How has this wonderful metamorphosis been 
accomplished? How has this curious elaboration 
taken place, except by the aid of the marvelous phe- 
nomenon called death, or by this peculiar process of 
change? 

In further explanation of the science of death, it 
becomes necessary, the same as with all things else 
connected with spiritual and material existence, to 
follow it back to the soul essence of all material sub- 
stance found in the great elemental sea from whence 
all forms have originated, and thus to show more 
definitely that this negative element having existed in 
the smallest atom of which all things are composed, it 
must inevitably exhibit itself in all aggregations of 
atoms. 

We have said, and we may repeat it again, that all 
of nature may be dissolved, and thus be reduced to its 
original infinitesimal particles, and so exist in the 
most inconceivably rarefied condition; and like the 
waters of the ocean, each atom will be a microcosm of 
the whole, or contain in miniature all the properties 
of the largest or most solidified accretion of atoms. 

If this be so — and it cannot be otherwise, for the 
careful observer will see at a glance that attributes or 



298 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

elements found in an accumulation of atoms taken from 
a homogeneous mass must exist in the individual 
atom, else they could by no means exhibit themselves 
in the various forms or accumulations — then, as we 
have already noted, the various modifications, and 
endless variety of phases and conditions, in which sub- 
stance may be found upon the earth, has all depended 
upon evolution, or continued change of condition; and 
this continued change is but another name for death, 
as all things must die to one state before they can 
possibly enter another. 

Now, if we find that certain accumulations of mate- 
rial substance, or certain organized forms, contain 
within them a spiritual essence or nature, we shall 
discover that each atomic particle of which the organ- 
ized form is composed must have contained a spiritual 
nature also, else the thing called spiritual would be 
simply impossible, unless the spirit was manufactured 
from nothing, which idea cannot be admitted by 
thinking minds. Philosophers have discovered that 
all atoms are accompanied or enveloped in an atmos- 
phere, and that no two particles, however dense the 
substance in which they are found, may appear to our 
vision — come into absolute contact; but that each lies 
wrapped in an etherealized covering of its own, which 
atmosphere or envelop is subject to compression, in 
accordance with the greater or less density of the 
material in which the atoms may exist. Microscopic 
vision has exposed to a certain extent this wonderful 
fact in nature, and made it apparent to our senses; 
but we may be compelled to wait for another change, 
and for a far more spiritualized vision, with vastly 



THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 29$ 

enhanced magnifying powers, before we can behold 
this and a thousand other facts in nature's busy labora- 
tory in all their beauty and magnificence. 

Somehow, in consequence of our extremely material- 
ized and limited visions, we have found ourselves in a 
world full of deceptions; we have been able only to 
comprehend the outlines or glimmering shadows of 
truth, and a power unknown to us, which some have 
called God, has seemed "to bring upon us strong 
delusion that we might believe a lie, that we might all 
be damned," and if so, that is doubtless the very thing 
we most needed ; for if damnation lias been brought 
into existence and made possible by an all-wise infinite 
power, it is doubtless intended to subserve some high 
purpose, and its experience must assuredly prove 
beneficial. If eternal justice prevails, which no one 
can doubt, every one of us will be entitled to an equal 
share of the advantages arising from this beneficent 
arrangement. 

We are told that the infinite, unchangeable God is 
no respecter of persons, and Paul says that this strong 
delusion was sent that they might all be damned; and 
we find ourselves in a condition where we are liable to 
be deluded every moment, in consequence of the 
obtusely gross and uncertain character of our physical 
senses, so we may as well accept the situation, and 
quietly pass through the experiences; then we may 
learn something of the uses and philosophy of damna- 
tion. If there is such an element in existence, and we 
doubt not there is, this philosophy will be a part of 
the sum of all knowledge, and no individualized being 
can graduate until he has acquired this experience. 



300 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

But to return: As we have shown, the spiritual as 
well as the material nature is found to exist in the 
atom, and consequently must permeate all forms and 
organisms composed of them, whether in the mineral, 
the vegetable, or animal kingdoms; and here the 
inquiring mind may enter into the vestibule of nature's 
wonderful laboratory, and obtain a glimpse of the 
working processes by which atoms are ultimated into 
all the marvelous productions which have swelled into 
such vast proportions, and embrace all the complicated 
machinery of a universe. We ascertain that all mate- 
rial accretions are subject to decay, to dissolution, or 
to an entire change of form, but that the spirit attached 
to those forms is more enduring, and its decay and 
dissolution does not follow that of the more materialized 
body with which it existed; it is not lost, but simply 
leaves that form, as the death or decay of the material 
particles renders it impossible to remain longer. The 
spiritual element is of course indebted to this death 
for the privilege of realizing its higher aspirations. 

It is acknowledged that the primary rock formations 
contained within them in their original state, and 
before their dissolution or death, all elemental sub- 
stances which can be found upon the earth; and if so, 
a dissolution of the particles of those formations were 
necessary before the more spiritualized elements could 
be eliminated. The entire supply of oxygen, hydrogen 
and nitrogen has been produced very evidently from 
this source. These spiritual essences, which bear the 
same relation to the primitive rocks that man's spirit 
does to his body, have only been permitted to escape 
by this death or dissolution of the particles of the 



THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 301 

original granite, and these essences or gases were pre- 
pared to subserve their purposes by their existence in 
the granite. Hence it is that we may properly say 
that water and atmosphere, which are composed of 
those gases, are essentially the spirits of the mineral 
kingdom, and they were eliminated from that kingdom 
by a death or dissolution which is perfectly analogous 
to all other deaths known in our world. We learn, 
then, our indebtedness to this beautiful phenomenon 
for the air we breathe and the various fluids we drink, 
as well as for all else that sustains our physical systems 
and prolongs their existence. 

"Water, which sustains this spiritual relation to the 
mineral, and which is known to be composed of hydro- 
gen and oxygen in certain proportions, evidently con- 
sists of globules enveloped in a more spiritualized 
element, and which is rendered thus dense by natural 
compression. We discover this fact by the peculiar 
expansive character of vapor, which seeks as soon as 
eliminated to occupy many hundred times the space 
required by the original water previous to the disso- 
lution of its particles. Steam or vapor, which may be 
very properly termed the spirit of the water, can only 
be obtained by bringing to bear a sufficient amount of 
caloric to dissolve the globules, thus permittiug these 
finer vesicles of vapor to escape. The effect of this is 
the letting loose the compressed atmospheric or more 
etherealized envelopes which surround these globules 
when in the condition of water, and it is then this 
wonderful expansion takes place. 

Science informs us that the pressure of steam " arises 
from the elasticity of the fluid, and depends upon a 



302 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

mutual repulsion of the particles, which gives them a 
tendency to fly asunder;" but we may learn that its 
power depends solely upon the greater activity, as well 
as expansive force, of the minute vesicles found in the 
compressed atmosphere of the water, which vesicles 
have been set free, and permitted to expand to their 
full volume by this death or dissolution of the denser 
globules. 

If there is not a spiritualized essence or atmosphere 
accompanying every separate globule of water which 
may be set free by this death induced by caloric, then 
let science explain what it is in the water that becomes 
so enormously expansive, and produces all this wonder- 
ful power. Yet this spiritual essence is so etherealized 
that a quantity of steam may part with it all, and be 
again condensed, without the least perceptible diminu- 
tion either in weight or volume of the water from 
which the steam was produced. 

Another remarkable exhibition of this wonderful 
science of death may be found in the explosion of gun- 
powder, and other elements of that character; also 
another evidence of the astonishingly expansive nature 
of the spiritual atmosphere or essence within which all 
particles are enclosed. When this spiritualized element 
is set free by the ignition and burning of the powder, 
it immediately demands near three thousand times the 
room that it occupied when locked up in the embrace 
of this granulated substance; and but for the dissolu- 
tion, change or death of those particles, that spiritual 
element would have remained locked up in those grains 
forever, as far as human observation extends. 

Again, we find that this spiritual element exhibited 



THE SCIEXCE OF DEATH. 303 

in the powder is of such a sublimated character that it 
may be parted with, and yet no perceptible diminution 
of the material can be discovered by human observa- 
tion. Thus we learn that we can enter into an inves- 
tigation of no department of nature but we find death, 
as an integral portion, performing the most wonderful 
exploits. But for this universal element we cannot 
successfully carry on the arts of civilized life, either in 
peace or war. We must call upon death to aid us in 
feeding the multitude, in manufacturing their clothing 
and all the necessaries of life, as well as in the destruc- 
tion of our enemies. 

We cannot deny that a spiritual essence permeates 
all substances, and may be set free by this process of 
change of form or dissolution; and we must admit that 
all organic forms in which either vegetable or animal 
life exists are possessed of a distinct or individualized 
spirit, whether such may or may not be the case in 
relation to forms in the mineral kingdom. Then, as 
nothing can be lost, these several spirits must continue 
their life when the physical form decays; and what 
shall be done with them, unless they are permitted to 
enter into some other structure of a superior character, 
having been prepared for this advance by their experi- 
ence in the form below? 

We have treated upon this subject in a previous 
chapter, and present it in this connection to show that 
the spirit is entirely dependent upon death or change 
of form for any advance it may make, or for the least 
progressive development during its eternal career. 
Somewhere in nature there must be correct and truth- 
ful ideas in relation to all organized forms of life. 



304 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

The j either are accompanied by a spiritual individu- 
ality or not; and if not, their endowments are inferior 
to inorganic substances, as we have learned that par- 
ticles in such a condition are in possession of spiritual 
essences which produce astounding results. We have 
also learned that unless the spirit was connected with 
the atom it could not possibly permeate any accumu- 
lation of such; then we must conclude that all organ- 
isms are endowed with a spiritual as well as a physical 
being. 

Again, we discover that the spiritual being cannot 
possibly be lost, and that it must remain eternally 
stationary unless it becomes subject to the laws of 
unfold men t or progression. It then becomes very 
plain that this unfoldment is entirely dependent upon 
the death of the physical form in which it may happen 
to exist temporarily. If no death occurred there could 
be no such thing as continuous growth or development 
in the universe. By this beautiful process we, who 
boast of considerable knowledge and power of spiritual 
discernment, have been brought up to our present state 
of enlightenment, and by this process we must go on 
through all the gradations of spiritual existence which 
is beyond, in the brighter spheres toward which we 
seem to be rapidly hastening. We must have died all 
possible deaths there is below us in order to have 
passed through all possible experiences; and we must 
continue to die all possible deaths there may be above, 
in order to obtain those experiences and that knowl- 
edge which will prepare us for the more exalted 
conditions which must necessarily follow. Then 
immortality, as generally taught, is but a myth and 



THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 305 

a delusion, as appertaining to the spiritual abodes, and 
there can be no more immortality in those realms than 
in this. However, essences of which the spiritual 
bodies must be composed are finer and more enduring, 
and we may reasonably expect to remain in one condi- 
tion correspondingly longer as we progress forward, 
the same as we have in all the gradations of animated 
existence below. All of immortality that we can ever 
experience we have within us to-day, and have brought 
it with us through all the death changes we have passed 
since being waked into life and activity. 

Immortality signifies exemption from all death or 
change — a perpetually unchanging condition; one 
that must drag on its dull, monotonous rounds through 
the ceaseless cycles of eternal ages, without one single 
shadowing probability of escape; a state where every 
variety of employment that could possibly afford the 
least pleasure or satisfaction must recur countless 
millions of times, and until every conscious element 
in a sentient being would sicken with disgust at the 
everlasting repetition. It would be the most terrible 
curse that could possibly be inflicted upon an intelli- 
gent being, no matter how exalted and glorious the 
condition in which they might be placed. All that 
could afford enjoyment in that state, call it what you 
please, heaven or paradise, would finally pall upon the 
senses, and become so extremely vapid that this heaven 
would finally change to the fiercest kind of torture. 

Sentient beings must have change. This element 

is stamped upon every lineament and fibre of their 

whole constitutional organization, spiritual as well as 

physical. The entire soul, with all its powers of aspi- 

20 



306 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

ration, reaches forward to a higher and better con- 
dition, regardless of its present surroundings and 
enjoyments. All this arises not from an absolute 
knowledge that more happiness would be experienced 
in the condition desired so ardently, but from the fact 
that this element of aspiration, this interior demand 
for change, is a component part of their nature; this 
element has come up with them from the lowest, and 
is so intimately connected with the soul essence that 
it must continue through every possible phase of 
conscious existence. Then of course immortality or 
an unchangeable state would become the most excru- 
ciating torment, and no hell w T e can imagine would be 
its equal. There is no power but death able to pass 
us onwards from one state to another; no other power 
which can relieve us from such a frightful and horri- 
fying condition of immobility or fixedness as is con- 
templated by the term immortality; and happy is it 
for humanity that this idea cannot possibly be realized, 
but that death, the universal liberator, stands ready 
with his beneficent arm to release us, when existence 
becomes no longer endurable in any one sphere. 

How strange that Christianity has taught men so 
earnestly to seek that which if they could find would 
only prove an unmitigated curse instead of a blessing; 
but this is but one of the fatal delusions into which 
they have fallen by following after myths and shad- 
ows, and seeking after truth in the records of our 
ancestors, instead of upon the pages of that universal 
Volume which is alike open to all, and which is sus- 
ceptible to no misprints or interpolations, but has 
ever been an unerring guide to knowledge. It is but 



THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 307 

another evidence of the strong delusion that every- 
where prevails, that almost all things are somewhat 
deceptive, and that mankind manifest a general incli- 
nation to believe a lie rather than a truth; because it 
is much easier and requires far less study and research; 
thus it is that the damnation of ignorance is so marked 
a feature in the civilization of the present day. 

Almost all people have worldly hopes and aspira- 
tions; they can conceive of a condition in life which 
they would think to be superlatively happy, in which 
they could enter into every possible character of 
enjoyment, and where they might fancy it would be 
a pleasure to remain to all eternity. It is quite pos- 
sible for individuals, by pursuing a proper course, to 
arrive at the very culminating point of their highest 
ambition; but, alas! how fleeting and transitory seems 
the enjoyment, simply because the aspiration has kept 
pace with the change of condition, and something is 
beheld a little beyond quite as inviting; so we perceive 
that immortality in that state, would only be another 
name for unending damnation. Then it becomes 
evident that the human mind is entirely unable to 
conceive any possible state of existence in which 
immortality would not prove a curse instead of a 
blessing, because it can conceive of none so exalted 
that aspirations would not be peering out into the 
beyond, and where hopes would not be in the exercise 
of their fullest activities. 

Death, then, must be quite as important an element 
in the future as it has been in the past; it has brought 
us up safely through all the countless changes of our 
earlier individual history in the eternities which have 



308 THE GOSPEL OF NATUEE. 

rolled away, and it must still act as our staunch friend 
carrying us through all the innumerable changes that 
must occur during the eternal cycles of our more 
spiritualized career. A cursory glance at this sub- 
ject, as we find it expressed upon nature's unerring 
tablets, will convince the thinking mind that Paul 
was laboring under one of his numerous mistakes, 
when he uttered or wrote his Second Epistle to Tim- 
othy, wherein is declared that Jesus Christ had " abol- 
ished death and brought life and immortality to light 
through the gospel"; for he certainly neither did 
the one or the other. We may challenge the wisdom 
of the entire religious world to show in what manner 
death has been abolished in any sense of the term, or 
to prove that it does not reign as triumphantly and 
make as conspicuous exhibitions of its power, as an 
important element in nature, as it has done at any 
period anterior to the present time. We also deny 
the fact that any more immortality exists to-day than 
could have been found always, from ail eternity; and 
we call upon Paul, or the modern theologian, to show 
when or where any such principle in nature has been 
brought to light by the death and sufferings of any 
particular individual. We state, without any fear of 
successful contradiction, that the only thing in the 
natural universe which is unchangeable, or immortal, 
is the indivisible point of material substance, or that 
which is so infinitesimal that no law can be found by 
which it can be changed or divided and made smaller. 
Any accumulation of particles whatever is capable of 
subdivision and consequent change, and no matter 
what the form may be, or in what condition it may 



THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 309 

be found, such form is liable to take on or throw off, 
it is subject to accretion or disintegration; so that no 
state of existence can be immortal, or exempt from 
death, except the smallest atom which is indivisible 
by any law in nature. All else are atoms in an asso- 
ciated capacity, and hence dissolution, which is death, 
becomes possible, and must take place in order to pro- 
duce all the multitudinous variety of forms and 
organizations found in nature. The physical organ- 
ization is capable of enduring an inconceivable amount 
of pain and torture, but, happily, there is a point 
beyond which endurance cannot go; a point where 
death steps in, as a kind deliverer, takes the victim of 
suffering in his beneficent arms, and transports him 
to a place of repose and security from the persecutions 
of his former enemies. Ob, thou blessed angel of 
death! thou, who art glorious in thy majesty! and 
who comest with thy stately tread, when all other 
powers have been unable to bring relief to the 
wretched and despairing; then, at the opportune 
moment, thou art there to dry up the fountains of 
suffering and anguish, and quench the burning flames 
that torture the soul. Thou art constantly seeking 
out those cases of intensified misery which are beyond 
the reach of temporary cure, and administering to the 
wants of those who are suffering past all endurance; 
and, but for thy timely aid, conscious existence would 
be only a curse. What, if the aged, the decrepid, and 
those whose lives have become a burden in conse- 
quence of their length of years, could have no hopes 
of release, but were compelled to drag on an unhappy 
and profitless existence through succeeding ages? 



310 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

Would the j not hail a delivering angel with trans- 
ports of delight, who would come and release them 
from all their sufferings and sorrow? What a fearful 
world, then, this would have been had no such angel 
of death existed. Go down into the abodes of wretch- 
edness, where no cheering beam of hope can enter, 
where poverty, want, and degradation are the daily 
companions of the squalid inmates — where no cheer- 
ing ray of earthly hope can gain admittance — how 
excruciatingly horrible the idea that such a condition 
would be of endless duration, and that no kind hand 
would ever come to bring deliverance. Go down into 
the dimly lighted prison cell which encloses but a 
single occupant, confined for life within its narrow, 
slime-covered walls — ask that miserable, lonely indi- 
vidual if he considers death a penalty which was sent 
into the world in consequence of transgression com- 
mitted by a single pair of ignorant persons, or whether 
life to him is not a thousand-fold the greater curse. 
How truly horrible would be the condition of such, 
if there was no hope of escape through this friendly 
portal; the prison door may never unclose to them 
during their stay in the world, but there is a gateway 
that must sometime open; and this only friend is 
their last hope, who, with his gracious smile, comes 
to them in their last extremity. Death finally opens 
the prison door and permits the oppressed in every 
condition to escape; it unlocks the fetters of the 
bondman, destroys the pain and suffering of the 
wounded and bruised, and overcomes all the terrible 
afflictions incident to physical existence. It has been 
our firm friend and deliverer during all the conditions 



THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 311 

through which we have passed, and must remain such 
whenever change becomes necessary in pursuing our 
future career. 

We learn, then, after taking this more enlarged 
view of this subject, and acquainting ourselves to 
some extent with the more scientific aspect of death, 
that it was stupid ignorance of the nature of the 
whole thing, that led our forefathers to suppose that 
death, in any sense of the word, was introduced into 
our world at a period subsequent to its formation. 
And if so, it must be considered willful blindness in 
this more enlightened age, for intelligent men to 
reiterate, and continue to teach such ideas, in the face 
of all the grand truths that are so indelibly etched 
upon nature's universal pages. For death has made 
his divine record upon every leaf, in letters so plain 
that the fool need not fail to read these characters, 
and the period must soon arrive when this record will 
be read and interpreted correctly by the multitudes. 
Then, we may expect that many of the ridiculous cus- 
toms of the present age will pass away and give place 
to usages more in accordance with the plainest dictates 
of common sense. Then all those expensive mourn- 
ing habiliments, and grand funeral corteges, will be 
deemed quite unnecessary, and we shall learn that our 
accustomed apparel is entirely appropriate for occa- 
sions of that character; and that expensive displays 
which are many times inconvenient for the surviving 
friends, are by no means satisfactory to the departed. 
We may also learn that a long-continued indulgence 
of an inordinate grief is quite reprehensible, as it not 
only destroys the happiness of the survivor but also 



312 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

of the departed, who may happen to be the sole cause 
of so much and such excessive mourning and wretch- 
edness as many seem to suffer. 

It seems to be perfectly natural for the departed 
spirit to remain for some length of time in and 
around its old home and among its former associates 
and friends, and it is the general custom to do the 
very thing which is calculated to make them uncom- 
fortable and wretched. If this matter was better 
understood, we would strive to render ourselves and 
our homes as cheerful and pleasant as possible after 
the recent death of any member of the family circle, 
as all manifestations of sorrow and mourning exert 
a repellant influence upon the departed, who now 
becomes an invisible guest of the household. 

If we have a visible guest, we endeavor to make 
things as cheerful and pleasant for them as possible, 
and no doubt when this subject is better understood, 
we shall pursue a very different course toward those 
we look upon as gone to return no more. There is 
nothing which has a more saddening and depressing 
effect upon a new born spirit, who can see no reason 
why they should not be cheerful and happy, than the 
continued sighs and groans, together with the sombre 
mourning apparel of those they have left behind. 

We earnestly entreat people to consider that it may 
be possible, for aught they know, that their loved ones, 
though invisible, may still be constant visitors at the 
house, and to deport themselves in a manner that they 
think would be agreeable to them, and conduce to 
their greatest happiness. If they have left photo- 
graphs, which is very generally the case at the present 



THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 313 

day, be sure and let them be exposed in the most fre- 
quented part of the house, and not laid away in some 
private drawer or album. These photographs contain 
a portion of their own personal magnetism, and 
become the mediums through which they may at any 
time behold their earth-friends and any one that may 
happen to be present. In short, we would urge people 
to remember that nature never makes any mistakes, 
nor does she in any sense get out of joint; if your 
friends die, it must surely result in their benefit, like 
every other great change which all must pass through, 
and it becomes intelligent men and women to pursue 
the even tenor of their way, and not be guilty of a 
course which is calculated to render these friends 
exceedingly unhappy and drive them from their own 
accustomed firesides. 

We have, at the request and under the direction of 
our invisible friends, written seven chapters of this 
work, and elucidated, to a certain extent, as many 
different subjects, and we have ascertained by this 
writing very many facts and principles in nature of 
which we had not the least conception at the outset. 
We certainly had not the remotest idea, when we 
commenced these chapters, that intelligence, intellect, 
progression, antagonisms, justice and death were just 
so many attributes of the soul of all things, or the 
least particle of substance; but such and much more 
have we found to be the case, and we trust the candid, 
unprejudiced reader, who looks over these pages with 
care, may arrive at similar conclusions. 



CHAPTEE VIII. 

THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 

Language is designed to convey intelligence or 
thoughts from one intellectual being to another. It 
seems in a certain sense to be the vehicle upon which 
intelligent thought is transported; and it may consist 
of vocal sounds or expressed signs, either written or 
presented in any other manner, through any one of the 
five senses. 

All that is required to constitute a language is to 
have the sounds or signs mutually agreed upon, so 
that all the parties who propose to use it may compre- 
hend what they severally mean, no matter what sound 
or sign is used to convey to others the idea of any 
object in nature, provided all the parties interested 
understand what the sound or sign is intended to 
convey. The paramount use of language is doubtless 
to convey intelligence, and thus enlighten and improve 
the human intellect. 

There seems to be a language written or engraved 
upon every object in nature which reveals itself to the 
human intellect, and these various revelations are 
sometimes called science, as they teach us the true 
character, the nature and properties of the objects 
which are thus engraved, or upon which these commu- 
nications are found. Nature, in her divine revelations, 
has evidently never committed any blunders or made 

(314) 



THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 315 

any misprints or mistranslations, but uses the same 
language to-day she did during untold ages in the 
past. Whosoever reads in this volume may be sure 
of obtaining unadulterated truth, and such as will be 
invigorating and afford sustenance for his inmost soul. 

We have a so-called written revelation, which pur- 
ports to come from a higher source than nature. It 
is said to be a revealment from the very author of 
nature — from Him who existed before the realms of 
nature were established, before the morning stars had 
taken their places, and had commenced their tuneful 
songs. Notwithstanding the language of this revela- 
tion seems strangely distorted and wonderfully con- 
founded, yet very many of the children of men have 
neglected the plain, simple revealments written upon 
nature's tablets as unworthy of their respect or notice, 
and turned their attention almost exclusively to an 
examination and study of this marvelous book which 
seems to be the united production of a number of 
authors who lived many years in the past, and who 
were said to have written by God's immediate direction. 

It appears from this record that the Hebrew God, 
its so-called divine author, upon a certain occasion, 
lest the people whom He said "is one" should take 
some undue advantage of Him, and prevent the full 
accomplishment of His purposes, conceived it necessary 
to confound their language, so they might not under- 
stand each other, and of course so they could not so 
easily combine together in perpetrating some unlawful 
design. And it seems very difficult for us, at this 
remote period, to comprehend how, after this confusion 
of tongues, He could give men a revelation in written 



316 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

language which they could by any means properly 
understand. If all language was confounded, then it 
would appear very strange how this Almighty Being 
could reveal Himself, and present the children of men 
with reliable teachings and infallible instructions in 
this confounded language. If language was the only 
vehicle by which ideas or thoughts could be conveyed 
from one intellect to another, and that vehicle was so 
damaged that it did not subserve its purpose, or trans- 
port the thought in its pure original form, in an 
unadulterated condition, to the intellects for whom it 
was designed, how then could this uncertain, con- 
founded mode of conveyance be used with any certainty 
in transmitting divine intelligence to the inhabitants 
of the earth? 

The record says emphatically, " The whole earth was 
of one language and one speech;" and that language 
was confounded, or it was rendered incapable of cor- 
rectly conveying ideas, by the power of the so-called 
Omnipotent God. If so, how could any other language 
originate from this grand Parent without inheriting 
the same confusion originally inaugurated and impreg- 
nated by this Omnipotent Being? If this was the one 
primitive language — the only speech used by all the 
children of men — it must have been the progenitor of 
all the forms of speech or different languages used by 
all succeeding generations of the earth. Then, all 
succeeding languages must have partaken of the nature 
of this progenitor, and have been confounded also, else 
the prime object of this act upon the part of its divine 
author could not have been perpetuated or carried out 
to any considerable extent. 



THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 317 

If this transaction ever occurred, the evident design, 
in accordance with the record, was that men should be 
scattered abroad upon the face of all the earth. How, 
then, could this design be carried out to its fullest 
extent unless all succeeding languages were confounded 
also? If at any time some subsequent language should 
have been adopted by some great people, which was in 
no way affected by this general confusion of all tongues 
which occurred at this period iu the world's history, 
and which was produced by the Omnipotent God of 
the bible, then certainly such people would have been, 
as regards language, in the same condition as those 
who lived before it was confounded. They would have 
understood one another's speech, and perhaps built 
Babels, and nothing would have been " restrained from 
them which they imagined to do." They might not 
have scattered upon all the face of the earth, and the 
grand purposes of this Infinite God in this respect 
might have been entirely thwarted, and His infinite 
designs defeated in a short period of time. Hence, we 
see very clearly that this confounding of the only 
language spoken upon " the whole earth " at that time, 
by the Eternal God, was no transitory, evanescent 
affair. If it means anything, it means that all the 
languages that ever should be spoken or written by 
any people upon the whole face of the earth should be 
confounded; that this kind of language should fail to 
convey to the human intellect the exact intent and 
meaning designed. It conveys a further signification 
to the Christian believer in the infallibility of the 
bible, and declares most emphatically to him that this 
revelation has come to men in this confounded, con- 



318 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

fused language; for his God had confounded the lan- 
guage before he gave the revelation, and he had no 
other in which it could be written. 

We present this train of reasoning for the especial 
benefit of those who fully endorse the idea of an infal- 
lible written revelation, although the book to which 
we have referred is so replete with contradictions and 
incongruities, so unnatural and unphilosophical in 
many of its statements and conclusions, and so utterly 
devoid of meaning in others, that we might almost be 
justified in the assumption that its language had been 
submitted to some such process before being intro- 
duced into this work. But aside from any such van- 
dalism upon the part of this Almighty Being, every 
intelligent man well knows that it is utterly impossible 
to adopt any form of spoken or written language which 
will convey exactly the same ideas to a large number 
of intellects. 

Again, there are thousands of ideas that cannot be 
expressed by any written or spoken language, so that 
it required no special act upon the part of this Being 
to confound and render imperfect this or any other so- 
called infallible revelation. Hence the endless variety 
of interpretations and the innumerable number of 
priests required to arrive at the true meaning and 
intent of these scriptures, and the utter impossibility 
of any concord or agreement in relation to the ideas 
which were originally designed to be conveyed by the 
several authors. 

A slight examination of the volume in question will 
show most conclusively that the language of its numer- 
ous authors is not only terribly confounded, but very 



THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 319 

much of it quite unmeaning and frivolous; whether 
from any act of a Supreme Jehovah or not, we leave 
those most interested to judge. 

There is certainly not an intellectual mind in exist- 
ence to-day who is competent to present a single idea 
contained in the three first chapters of Genesis that is 
in consonance with any known fact existing in the 
natural universe. And we may further remark, with 
great assurance, that it is quite impossible to form a 
rational, intelligent conception of any natural ideas the 
author intended to convey, if he was capable of pre- 
senting an infallible revelation. It may be very easy 
to discover what he was driving at, if he was an ordi- 
nary mortal; but when we view it as a divine revela- 
tion, coming from an infinite source, the whole thing 
is confounded, and becomes perfectly inexplicable; it 
then becomes utterly impossible to comprehend the 
true nature of the ideas, or the true meaning the 
language was intended to convey. Who can tell what 
is meant by the term beginning, or who has any reli- 
able evidence that there was a beginning? Who is 
able to say what is intended by the word God, when 
all say it is perfectly incomprehensible? Who can 
form an opinion in relation to the real meaning of the 
word created in this connection, when it is quite 
impossible to prove the earth or anything else was 
created at all? 

We hesitate not to say that no man living can form 
an intelligent idea of the exact meaning, if it has any, 
of the second verse, which says that the " earth was 
without form and void, and darkness was upon the face 
of the deep, and the spirit of God moved upon the face 



320 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

of the waters." If it was an earth, how could it be 
without form or void, and what deep was it that dark- 
ness rested upon? What was the spirit of the incom- 
prehensible God that moved upon the face of these 
waters, and where was the waters when the earth had 
no form and was nowhere, because it was void, and 
how, under this condition, could these waters have had 
any face to be moved upon by this spirit? 

Again, can any one tell how this being could have 
produced light, and divided it from the darkness, and 
had an evening and morning three days before He 
made any sun, which appears to have so much to do in 
producing those results? This language is evidently 
most shockingly confounded, and, as an infallible 
record, fails to convey any intelligence to the human 
mind. How can we suppose this infinite being would 
have labored assiduously nearly the entire six days in 
constructing this little earth, which is but a grain of 
sand upon the sea shore as compared to the whole, and 
then spoke all the unnumbered worlds and systems of 
worlds that constitute the starry heavens into existence 
in a moment of time. The language which conveys 
such an idea to an intelligent mind is a thousand times 
worse than confounded, for it carries the mark of 
falsehood indelibly impressed upon its own face. 

There can be no definite meaning to language which 
represents an infinitely wise and powerful being as 
creating a man and a woman in such an awkward and 
unscientific manner, pronouncing it not only a good, 
but very good job when finished, and then having it 
turn out very badly in so short a period. If infinite 
wisdom and power produced them in the manner 



THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 321 

spoken of, and called them very good, then they must 
have been good to the furthest possible extent, else 
there was something about them that infinite wisdom 
had not discovered. If there was any defects in them 
or anything about them which would render them 
liable to turn out badly, then this infinite wisdom 
could not have discovered those defects when he pro- 
nounced them very good. 

Again, this infinitely wise and powerful being could 
not possibly have desired that the product of his labors 
should have turned out badly. Hence, he must not 
only have been terribly disappointed in the result, but 
he and every other intelligent being must have learned 
the fact that he was incompetent to accomplish his 
purposes, and that he was not an infinite personality, 
as represented, and that the language is unmeaning 
and confused. 

" And it repented the Lord that He had made man 
on the earth ; and it grieved Him to His heart. And 
the Lord said, I will destroy man, whom I have cre- 
ated, from the face of the earth, both man and beast, 
and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air." 
Where is the intelligent man of the present day who 
dare lay his hand upon his heart, and solemnly affirm 
in the presence of his own soul, that he absolutely and 
unreservedly believes that this language ever proceeded 
from an infinite being who may properly lay claim to 
the attribute of immutability, as well as omnipotence 
and omniscience? This language either conveys no 
meaning at all, or else the meaning is confounded, and 
not a single living person can tell what the author 
intended to convey, if he knew himself. Can it be 
21 



322 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

possible that there are minds so bewildered as to sup- 
pose that an unchangeable God can change; that an 
infinitely wise being can repent of his past acts, or 
destroy the products of his own labor? The idea is so 
absurd that we need not waste another word upon its 
consideration. The only solution the inquiring bible 
believer can possibly obtain concerning this problem, 
is that Moses introduced here some of that confounded 
language that remained after the general wreck which 
occurred at the Tower of Babel. 

"And God spake unto Noah, and his sons with him, 
saying: And I, behold I, establish my covenant with 
you. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud 
over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud." 
Now, if this language is not confounded, and means 
anything, it must mean that this God did not create 
rainbows when He created the universal worlds, but 
that He reserved this important part of His works 
until this particular period, and that He created the 
rainbow for an especial purpose; that this bow might 
be "a token of a covenant," which he says "I make 
between me and you and every living creature that is 
with you for perpetual generations." 

It is not supposed that we have any history to 
prove that rainbows existed previous to this time, 
and if we had, it would be perfectly impossible to 
prove that the history was authentic, quite as much 
so as it is to prove that this history of a universal 
flood was an absolute fact that really transpired. But 
we know what is far more conclusive than history; 
that is, the undeviating laws existing in nature were 
inscribed upon the pages of the great universe; and 



THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 323 

we find recorded here, that rainbows are produced by 
eternal causes, and that all the causes productive of 
such results have been in successful operation as long 
as the sun has shone and the rains have fallen ; and 
no person who makes the least pretensions to intelli- 
gence will dispute this fact. Hence, all this language 
concerning this covenant and the placing this bow in 
the clouds as a token by which he might hold it in 
remembrance, is just so much "confounded" non- 
sense. Further, it proves most conclusively, if any 
such proof is needed, that the whole story is unrelia- 
ble and fallacious; and that it is utterly preposterous 
to suppose that it was dictated or written by any per- 
son who had any scientific knowledge, much less by a 
being endowed with infinite wisdom. 

One of the more remarkable instances of this 
general confounding of language, may be found in 
connection with that curious production, the deca- 
logue, which, it was said, was engraved by this God 
with his finger upon two tables of stone prepared for 
that purpose. This, it appears, was done upon two 
different occasions; for Moses, who had the charge of 
the first two tables, and was bringing them clown 
from the mountain to the camp, upon hearing some 
unfavorable report concerning the doings of his fol- 
lowers, irreverently dashed the two tables, that had 
required so much of the valuable time and labor of 
God, upon the ground at the foot of the mountain 
and utterly destroyed them. It appears that Aaron, 
his brother, who had been commanded to go up with 
Moses upon Mount Sinai and remain there during this 
conference with the Jewish God, had somehow stolen 



324 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

away and returned to the camp, and that he as well 
as the multitude, became entirely oblivious as to the 
business then being transacted between God and 
Moses on top of the mountain. Notwithstanding 
the short period that had elapsed since Aaron himself 
came down, the close proximity of the camp, the 
thick darkness that veiled the mountain top, the 
forked shafts of lightning that were continually vis- 
ible upon its crest, and the rattling thunders which 
were resounding amid its craggy steeps, yet this 
chosen people had forgotten all about Moses; "they 
wot not where he was"; and Aaron, he who was con- 
sidered competent to act as high priest for this whole 
nation, was entirely incapable of giving them any 
information upon the subject. This villainous Aaron, 
instead of being upon the mountain top, in obedience 
to the command of God, assisting in codifying the 
laws which were to govern the people, and arranging 
concerning the tabernacle, the altar, and all the 
appointments of that worship which was being 
instituted by supreme authority, was loafing about 
the camp ready to engage in any species of deviltry 
that might present itself. So, in his ignorance of the 
whereabouts of Moses, and the peculiar business that 
was engaging his attention upon the mountain, he 
consented to manufacture from their stolen jewels a 
God for the people, in the form of a calf, and set it 
up for them to worship. It appears that God heard 
the singing and shouts that occurred in this peculiar 
kind of worship upon the mountain top, and called 
the attention of Moses to the subject, and became 
very angry, and says, "Now therefore let me alone 



TUB CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 325 

that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I 
may consume them and make a great nation of thee." 
Moses, however, saw the subject in a different light, 
and after much persuasion, he prevailed with God to 
compromise the matter and spare the people. It will 
be admitted that Moses really seemed to manifest 
more discretion and good sound judgment in this 
case than the Hebrew God himself, who, acknowledg- 
ing the fact, acceded to a great extent to his very 
rational propositions, "and repented of the evil 
which he thought to do unto his people." After 
this relenting God seems to have given this matter 
entirely into the hands of Moses, who taking the 
two tables of stone upon which the decalogue was 
inscribed, went down the mountain in order to take 
such action as the case required, bound, as a matter 
of course, to yield implicit obedience to the laws 
which he had been receiving from the infinite Jeho- 
vah. The fact of his having, in a fit of anger, broken 
the two tables of stone when he first heard the sounds 
of revelry in the camp, could not by any means abro- 
gate or destroy the full force of the commands written 
thereon. Yet Moses, notwithstanding he had per- 
suaded God to withhold his hands, immediately took 
measures to inaugurate an unparalleled scene of 
butchery in direct violation of one of the prominent 
commands in the decalogue, which had been so 
recently inscribed by his God, and which he had 
so sacrilegiously destroyed. 

"Thou shalt not kill," saith the law. "Put every 
man his sword by his side, and go in and out from 
gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every 



326 THE GOSPEL OF NAT DEE. 

man his brother, and every K man his companion, 
and every man his neighbor," saith Moses; and it 
was done. Three thousand men were massacred that 
day, and butcheries of a most atrocious character 
were continually indulged in by this people from 
that day until they crucified Jesus, and were in turn 
butchered themselves by the Romans, notwithstand- 
ing the commandment said, in so many words, " Thou 
shalt not kill." They believed this command came 
directly from the infinite God, and that its observance 
was binding upon them. Why, then, its continual 
violation? Why has it not been regarded by Jew and 
Christian both? Evidently because it had no definite 
meaning. Men could interpret this language to suit 
their own purposes, just as they can any other portion 
of this book; the language has no particular mean- 
ing — it is confounded, as well as the whole story 
concerning its origin. No intelligent person at the 
present day can form any rational idea of the real 
intent and meaning of any of the language made use 
of in this entire narrative. 

Is there a word written any where upon the broad 
tablets of universal nature, or does any thing exist in 
all the material and spiritual realms, which affords 
the least evidence that such a transaction as the one 
narrated really took place as described by Moses. We 
defy any person to find a single memorial upon the 
earth that would in the least degree corroborate the 
story of this lengthened interview with an infinite 
Jehovah upon Mount Sinai, or any fact now in exist- 
ence which would faintly indicate that such an event 
ever occurred, or that an infinite God ever had any 



THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 327 

communication with Moses in any manner whatever. 
The language is all uncertain, and can convey no 
definite idea to the intelligent, independent, thinking 
mind of the present age about this matter. 

"Thou shalt not steal." Can this language be 
understood by a people who were taught to borrow 
the jewelry and raiment of their neighbors upon the 
eve of their departure from Egypt, with an intent to 
defraud the lender, by special order of the same party 
who wrote this command? Can this language mean 
any thing, when given to a marauding people who are 
on their journey to a country of which they do not 
own a single foot, and who cannot obtain any portion 
of it except by driving out and destroying the lawful 
possessors? The Hebrews were on their way from 
Egypt to Canaan for the express purpose of driving 
out the owners of the soil, and taking unlawful pos- 
session of their homes, and stealing their property, 
which this record says they accomplished by the 
assistance of that Almighty Being who chiseled this 
command upon the stone table with his finger fur 
their observance. What could this people have 
thought of either of these commands, or how could 
they have been interpreted, when they were told, 
" Ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land 
before you, and quite pluck down all their high 
places; ye shall divide the land among your families 
for an inheritance "? Stealing is taking what belongs 
to another with intent to convert it to one's own use. 
That was precisely what the Hebrews were instructed 
to do by the party who gave this commandment. He 
in one case says thou shalt not steal, and in another 



328 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

says, thou shalt steal from all the inhabitants of the 
land of Canaan. 

It might be interesting to notice both these laws 
found in the decalogue in connection with that little 
unpleasant affair that occurred with the Midianites. 
After this people was subdued and all the adult males 
put to the sword, Moses — this supereminent pattern 
of meekness — was wroth with the general officers for 
having exercised too much leniency, and taken too 
many captives. So, with his remarkable forbearance, 
he issued the following order: "Now, therefore, kill 
every male among the little ones, and kill every 
woman that hath known man by lying with him; 
but all the women-children that have not known 
man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves." 
It would appear that in the age when this peculiar 
chosen people nourished, and when this great Jehovah 
who is recognized as the infinite God by the Chris- 
tians of to-day, held daily converse with the elders, 
and gave them personal instruction, he exacted for 
his own individual use and behoof a specified propor- 
tion of the spoils of war. And, whether the " booty" 
consisted of oxen, asses, sheep, goats, or virgins, he 
demanded that a certain proportion should be set 
apart for himself. In this particular case the num- 
ber of the latter class of persons whom the Hebrew 
leader, in his great clemency, saw fit to reserve from 
the general slaughter, was thirty-two thousand; and, 
the Lord's portion being exactly one to every thou- 
sand, was " thirty and two persons." 

Reader, this delectable narrative, which may be 
found in full in the Christian bible, is a part of the 



THE COMPOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 329 

so-called infallible word of God, which is believed to 
have been dictated by the supreme ruler of the uni- 
verse, and which is recognized to-day by the Christian 
church as the only sure guide to eternal truth and 
happiness. Let us in charity draw a veil over the 
atrocities that were committed in the earlier ages of 
the world by the so-called chosen people of the Lord, 
and leniently suppose that the language that reveals 
such unnatural horrors to our view, has been con- 
founded, and that we cannot, by any means, arrive 
at its true interpretation. 

The nature of our work will only permit us to 
devote a very few pages to a consideration of this 
part of the subject, yet quite enough, we trust, to 
show the candid reader the entire impossibility of 
arriving at any proper conclusion concerning the 
true intent and meaning of the language intro- 
duced into a very considerable portion of this 
so-called sacred volume. And, the multitudinous 
interpretations given by men who have made this 
book their study in various ages of the world, are 
also the strongest evidences of the complete folly 
of wasting time in a vain endeavor to comprehend 
the true meaning of the language introduced. Again, 
the various influences that are emanating from all 
the different church organizations, are all serving to 
make this confusion worse confounded. The Cath- 
olic, the Episcopal, the Presbyterian, the Baptist, the 
Methodist, the Quaker, and the hundred other differ- 
ent sects, who base their hopes and beliefs upon this 
volume, all have their peculiar interpretations, their 
commentators and authorities; they contend for 



330 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

their own distinct views against the world, and they 
transmit them to their children and to their suc- 
cessors. Thus they build up powerful organizations 
established upon different interpretations of the lan- 
guage of this volume, each one exerting an influence 
over human intellects in proportion to their numbers 
and extent. These various ecclesiastical establish- 
ments have ever been extremely arbitrary and exact- 
ing in their requirements concerning a strict adherence 
to their own peculiar interpretations of the written 
language of the sacred book; for, indeed, in this and 
nothing else consisted the distinctive features of their 
particular organization, and any laxity in this matter 
would prove entirely fatal to its existence. Should 
the ardent close communion Baptist yield one jot or 
tittle of his peculiar meaning to the word baptism, 
he would be no longer a Baptist. With him it means 
plunge, or complete immersion, and nothing else; 
with the Presbyterian it means sprinkling; with the 
Methodist it means pouring, sprinkling, or plunging, 
as each one chooses; with the Quaker it means 
neither, in a physical sense, but some indefinite 
operation connected with the spiritual nature of 
man. Who can say this language is not confounded ; 
and that it is made to mean one thing or another ; 
just in accordance with the prejudices or precon- 
ceived notions of the individual who attaches the 
signification; and who can say this, after an exam- 
ination of the matter concerning most other language 
used in this so-called holy book? Hence, all this 
confusion, this conflict of opinion, these continued 
persecutions and martyrdoms, this exclusiveness, the 



THE CONFOUNDING- OF LANGUAGE. 331 

many bitter denunciations, and this immense accu- 
mulation of obsolete theological literature, which is 
not to-day worth the paper that was used in its 
publication. 

"We return to a consideration of a few more pas- 
sages in this work that are of vital interest, and 
which are or seem to be connected with the basic 
principles that the firm believers in the infallibility 
of this work are endeavoring to establish: 

"I am the Lord thy God; thou shalt have no other 
Gods before me." If this language, together with its 
connections, means any thing, who is there upon the 
earth that comprehends its meaning, when all acknowl- 
edge the being to whom it seems to allude to be 
perfectly incomprehensible? Where does this being 
dwell, of whom it was declared that he spake all 
these words, and a great deal more, unto Moses? 
What kind of a being is he, or of what is he com- 
posed? We may safely affirm, without any fear of 
contradiction, that there is not a living person upon 
the face of this earth who can form any intelligent 
conception, or who possesses within himself the 
least inkling of knowledge concerning this God who 
is said to have talked with Moses so repeatedly, and 
who is referred to upon this occasion. The innu- 
merable variety of opinions entertained by different 
minds who nourished in different ages of the world, 
as well as at the present time, prove most conclu- 
sively, that no person can know any thing definite 
in relation to the matter. And again, if this fact 
really transpired, and Moses did really talk with a 
God as represented upon the Mount, then there has 



332 THE GO:PEL OF NATUKE. 

been no intellect but his who can entertain any proper 
or definite conception of what this man experienced, 
or understand what he did concerning the being with 
whom he talked, because there is no language in the 
universe which will convey his experience to another 
intellect. Hence, no man can entertain the 6ame con- 
ception of that being as did Moses; neither can any 
two intellects entertain precisely the same conceptions 
from any hearsay testimony. No two intelligent 
individuals can entertain precisely the same concep- 
tions concerning Moses himself from any description 
we have of his person, much less of the Infinite God 
with whom Moses claimed to have held these lengthy 
conversations. If Moses had these several experiences 
and received these revelations as spoken of, they were 
doubtless very good for him; and, if people choose to 
take them second hand, and are pleased to think they 
can subsist upon the experimental knowledge of some 
other individual, they may do so to their entire satis- 
faction; no intelligent mind will begrudge them all 
they obtain by this process. If one man is satisfied 
to stand by, and let another eat the dinner, and simply 
be told in human language how the oysters, roast beef 
and strawberries and cream tasted, he will doubtless 
be quite welcome to all the sustenance or other ben- 
efits he can obtain in such a manner. Moses could 
not convey to the human intellect any real, absolute 
knowledge concerning the matters connected with his 
experience (if he had any) upon Mount Sinai, by 
human language, any more than the man who has 
tasted strawberries or any other fruit can convey an 
idea of their peculiar flavor to one who has never 



THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 333 

tasted. Thus we very plainly discover that all the 
knowledge we claim to have received from this direc- 
tion is vague, indefinite and unmeaning, carrying with 
it no certain idea of what he would describe; he him- 
self declaring that he only saw him at a disadvan- 
tage, as he was only permitted to behold his " back 
parts" instead of his face. 

And, what of all the ceremonials and peculiar forms 
of worship which this infinite, unchangeable God is 
said to have personally taught Moses to establish for 
the observance of all future generations; for, as a 
matter of course, if he was unchangeable, and he 
established this mode of worship through Moses, it 
must have been designed to be perpetuated? If he, 
as an immutable God, required those peculiar modes 
of worship which he is said to have taught with so 
much precision, then he certainly would have required 
the same forms as long as his immutability continued, 
and if he does not require them to-day from his 
people, then he must have changed. It is a signifi- 
cant fact that not a single vestige of those ceremouials 
or forms of worship that were claimed to have been 
taught Moses by this infinite being are now in use 
even by the Jews. All their ceremonials have been 
instituted since the destruction of the temple, by 
some other intelligent being or beings, besides the 
one who taught Moses upon the Mount, and the last 
remaining relics of the instructions which are said to 
have come from the Supreme God in regard to cer- 
emonial worship, have been abrogated and superseded 
by those invented by men. What, then, was the 
meaning of all this language which was given to 



334 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

Moses from this infinite source? It evidently has 
no meaning at all, which is entitled to the respect or 
consideration of any class of intelligent persons of 
the present age. 

" Thou shalt not commit adultery." What did this 
mean in the minds of such conservators of the public 
morals as David, or Solomon, or any of the elders of 
Israel who were permitted to monopolize any where 
from five to five hundred or a thousand women? 
What did this term mean with that being, whoever 
it might have been, who is said to have ravished the 
virgin who was the betrothed wife of the young car- 
penter in order to produce a Savior for the human 
race? Can it be possible that no other method could 
be devised for the accomplishment of so important a 
purpose, except by the transgression of a law estab- 
lished by the Infinite Jehovah? 

Adultery evidently meant, in ancient times, as it 
does to-day, a great deal for the woman and but very 
little if anything for the man. Who thought about 
stoning the man when the woman was brought to 
Jesus, caught in the very act? What had become of 
him? Who talks anything about the men connected 
with the great social evil? They move about in the 
ordinary walks of life with no brand of infamy upon 
their brows. They are not ostracised, or shut out 
from the pale of so-called respectable society. That 
is only for the poor female. This word was evidently 
coined for them, and this command written for their 
government; as far as the man is concerned this lan- 
guage has no particular signification, or else it is 
terribly confounded. 



THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 335 

" Kemember the Sabbath day and keep it holy." 
This language admits of such a diversity of interpre- 
tations, and is made to mean so many different things 
that it is perfectly impossible to arrive at any just 
conclusion in regard to what was the true intent of 
the author. Most certainly he had not the slightest 
idea of the present condition of human society, or 
how men could contrive to render the Sabbath day 
holy, when all the ceremonial institutions, the customs 
and usages introduced for this purpose should have 
passed away forever; neither has there been any record 
of time kept so accurately as to render it certain to 
which particular day he referred. To say the least of 
this matter, it is quite clear that the language has no 
particular meaning, and almost every intelligent man 
feels at liberty to construe it as best pleases himself; 
and when they learn to do that in regard to the whole 
book, it will be a happier day for the human family. 

It may be proper to notice that among the length- 
ened code of ceremonial or even civil laws, said to 
have originated with this divine being, and which 
were introduced into the governmental economy of 
the Hebrews, not one of all the number are consid- 
ered of the least value in regulating the religious or 
civil affairs of human society at the present day. All 
the language employed in their construction and cod- 
ification is of no authority; it is entirely unmeaning, 
and has no significance or utility, except as a histori- 
cal land-mark that points to the religious and political 
condition of a rude people who existed upon the verge 
of barbarism. We boldly assert, and defy successful 
contradiction, that there is not a passage in the whole 



336 THE GOSPEL OF NATCJEE. 

book which is not subject to this character of criti- 
cism — which is not of very doubtful interpretation, 
and may be made or construed to mean one thing 
or another, according to the preconceived ideas of the 
reader. 

If we examine the language which purports to have 
emanated from the prophets or the reputed son of 
this so-called Supreme God, we shall find it open to 
the same kind of criticism, and subject to a variety of 
interpretations. Jesus, in very many instances, spoke 
in language entirely contradictory to that which came 
directly from his Father. And it must of necessity 
have been so; for if he came to establish a new dis- 
pensation, he must first have torn down the one his 
Father had built, in order to erect another upon its 
ruins. If he came to establish Christianity in the 
place of Judaism, then it was his first business to show 
the fallacy and impropriety of Judaism, and use his 
best endeavors to supplant and drive it from the face 
of the earth, and build up Christianity in its stead. 

We believe it must be conceded by all parties that 
Jesus, together with his Apostles, notwithstanding he 
said " he came not to destroy, but fulfill the law," yet 
they did pursue the very course, to the best of their 
abilities, to destroy Judaism, root and branch, and 
build up Christianity upon its ruins, and that all their 
followers, from that day to the present, have persist- 
ently acted in conformity with their example and 
instructions. We may very properly, then, institute 
some inquiries in relation to the authority possessed 
by these persons, or by what right they commenced 



THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 337 

an assault upon the divine institutions established by 
the Infinite God in His own proper person. 

If Judaism, as taught by Moses, was a truth, which 
emanated, as is supposed, from the infinite Ruler of the 
universe — if it was a revelation of His divine will to 
the children of men, concerning all the subjects spoken 
upon in that revelation, and He did establish a govern- 
ment for His chosen people — then any attempt to 
controvert His teachings, dispute His authority, or 
overturn His established institutions by any of His 
subjects, was a rebellion against that government; and 
this Jesus, whether he was miraculously conceived or 
not, was a rebel, and of course incurred the penalty of 
the Jewish law. 

In order to establish a new dispensation upon the 
ruins of an old one, it would first become necessary to 
show the old one to be defective, and that it does not 
in a proper manner subserve the purposes for which it 
was designed. This it would be entirely impossible 
to do if the old one had emanated from an infinite 
being; for infinite wisdom and power can produce 
nothing but what partakes of that character, and what- 
ever proceeds from such a source must be perfect, and 
therefore perpetual. A religious institution cannot be 
superseded by anything better, if it was inaugurated 
by infinite wisdom, or established by such power. 
And what being, we ask, in all the wide universe, had 
any authority to make the attempt to overthrow 
Judaism, and build up some other superstructure upon 
its ruins, if it proceeded directly, as the modern Chris- 
tian believes, from the Infinite God? 

Whatever men may think of this matter to-day, it is 
22 



338 THE GOSPEL OF NATUKE. 

evident that Christ and his Apostles considered this 
Jewish dispensation entirely defective, and that it was 
in no way calculated to promote the best interests of 
society, either in this world or in the future; and they 
manifested this view of the subject by their strong 
endeavors to destroy it and continual labors to super- 
sede it, by the establishment of another dispensation 
in its place. Therefore, if they were capable of reason- 
ing, it was very strange for them to suppose the old 
was a direct emanation from the Supreme God of the 
universe, or that they should have stultified themselves 
with a vain endeavor to destroy what they believed an 
infinite being had labored to establish. 

When Jesus Christ, in his discourse upon the Mount, 
called in question the propriety of any of the language 
used by his reputed Father, or repudiated any of His 
instructions given to Moses, he virtually denied His 
divine authority to teach. By so doing he openly 
declared that a portion at least of the teachings which 
came from the Father were fallacious, and opposed to 
universal principles, and that such erroneous senti- 
ments should no longer be promulgated among human- 
ity. When he made such utterances as " it hath been 
said an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth ; but I 
say unto you resist not evil," he treated the author 
of the foregoing words with a sort of disregard, if not 
w 7 ith real contempt. Jesus, so far from intimating 
that this language had proceeded from an infinitely 
wise being, represented that such false sentiments were 
unworthy of respect or consideration, and were to be 
superseded by those of a higher character. He gave 
his followers to understand that the personage who 



THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 339 

taught Moses the doctrines contained in such language 
as " eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot 
for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, and 
stripe for stripe," or, in other words, the principles of 
even-handed justice, was so deficient in a knowledge 
of universal law as to dictate sentiments which would 
not answer the purpose of future generations. Hence, 
he could not have conceived Him to have been endowed 
with infinite wisdom, or he certainly would not have 
repudiated one syllable of His teachings. 

It hath been said " thou shalt love thy neighbor (or 
intimate friend), and hate thine enemy. But I say unto 
you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do 
good to them that hate you, that ye may be the chil- 
dren of your Father," who formerly said love your 
friends and hate your enemies. 

In all the instructions which purport to have come 
from the God of the Hebrews, not one word had ever 
been offered which would indicate that it was His 
desire His chosen people should love either His or 
their enemies; but in every instance they were taught 
to hate and destroy their enemies. But Jesus now 
inculcates a new doctrine, in direct opposition; and 
the reason assigned was that they might assume the 
relationship of children to the God who had instructed 
them so very differently. It is quite immaterial which 
of these basic principles, that seem to underlie the very 
foundation of human associations, is the correct one; 
it is sufficient for our purpose to know that they are 
diametrically opposed to each other, while it is claimed 
by the so-called infallible book that both the one and 
the other emanated from the same infinite source. 



340 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

The former continually taught that the true principle 
for the government of human social relations was love 
for your friends and hatred for your enemies, which 
seems to be very natural; while the latter taught that 
love for your friends was a matter of no importance, 
that it entitled a person to no reward, because anybody, 
even the publicans, do as much. 

Jesus, this new teacher, contended most strenuously 
that the great virtue consisted in loving your enemies, 
and bestowing all your salutations, good offices and 
kindness upon those who hate you, and would despite- 
fully use you and persecute you. This being very 
unnatural, was esteemed by him very desirable; and 
the person who, under the new dispensation, should be 
able to look with indifference upon those whom he 
naturally considered lovely and admirable, and who 
could so far overcome his own nature as to esteem and 
love those who were hateful or would do him an injury, 
would be entitled to very great reward from his Heav- 
enly Father. 

There may be something very beautiful in this 
arrangement in the eyes of the Christian world ; but 
to us, viewing it from our standpoint, the language 
and the apparent ideas it was intended to convey seem 
terribly mixed and discordant. The old dispensation, 
established by the Father, taught men to deal out 
exact justice to those who had violated legal enact- 
ments or infringed upon individual rights, to respect 
and love our friends, and treat them with acts of 
courtesy and kindness, and what was perfectly natural, 
to hate our enemies. But the new dispensation teaches 
that there is no propriety or "no reward" for the 



THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 341 

person who returns love for love; that in order to 
become perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect, it 
would be necessary to love those we hate and despise, 
while we treat those we love with indifference, if not 
with scorn; for this would be a pious act of virtue and 
6elf-sacrifice that the common people — the sinners — 
do not often perform. 

In order to carry out this teaching practically and 
to the letter, it would be quite proper for all followers 
of Jesus to marry those persons whom they hate, and 
who are their enemies, instead of those whom they 
sincerely and ardently love — such as publicans and 
sinners would naturally choose; for in that case they 
would have an opportunity continually of loving the 
individual they hate by nature, and carrying out the 
principles of the new dispensation, thus introducing 
them into the domestic circle, and into the every day 
affairs of life. If these sentiments taught by Jesus, 
which abrogate the old law established by his Father, 
mean anything, and were intended to be observed by 
his followers, they are certainly worthy of being intro- 
duced practically into the common walks of every day 
life. For, if we are his followers, and believe in the 
divine authority of his teachings, we are culpable when 
we do not observe them in such a manner; for if not, 
we do precisely as the publicans and the sinners, and 
are entitled to no reward, but rather to their con- 
demnation. 

Laws instituted for the government of a people must 
have originated from powers vested in the acknowl- 
edged governmental authority acting in a legislative 
capacity, and such laws cannot be abrogated or repealed 



342 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

by any or all the members of that government, at any 
subsequent period, except by an appeal to the same 
governmental powers, and by a legal enactment of the 
same authority acting in a similar capacity. Hence, 
no person who ever lived could have had any authority 
to assume that the laws of an acknowledged Infinite 
God, which were given upon Mount Sinai, were abro- 
gated, unless he could first prove that such enactments 
had been repealed legally, at some subsequent time, by 
some act upon the part of this same infinite power. 
For, most assuredly, if it is an absolute fact that this 
Mosaic law was established by this God, and He was 
the supreme ruler of this universe, and it cannot be 
proven that at any subsequent period this same God, 
in His proper person, and in this same legislative 
capacity, has annulled that law, then it stands to-day 
with all its original force, virtue and effect, and is 
binding upon every man who acknowledges the author- 
ity of this law-giver. 

The fact that Jesus, upon the little Mount up in 
Galilee, or that Paul, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, or 
that all the Catholic and Protestant priesthood from 
that day to this have claimed that this law has been 
abolished by some competent authority, proves nothing, 
until they show when and where and how it was done, 
by some act upon the part, or some edict emanating 
from the same infinite being who established the law. 
And when this being annuls His own law, which He 
established amid such a flourish of trumpets, such 
commotion of the elements, such thunder and light- 
nings, smoke and darkness, then He stultifies Himself 
and proves He was not infinite in wisdom and power, 



THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 343 

and that He was incapable of organizing a government 
for His people which was worthy of being perpetuated. 

When Jesus undertook to build up a new dispensa- 
tion by destroying the old, and claimed that he was 
the only direct male offspring of the being who estab- 
lished the old one, then he destroyed his own divine 
authority, and proved himself incapable of producing 
anything indestructible; because he certainly could do 
nothing greater than his Father had done, from whom 
he must have inherited every power in his possession. 
If the Father utterly failed in this respect, and barely 
produced an institution which was limited in its extent 
to one small nation of people, and was only temporary 
in its continuance, how could the son expect to accom- 
plish anything greater, unless he had in his possession 
power and wisdom he did not receive or inherit from 
the Father? 

"We are told that the son, Jesus, established a reli- 
gious system, or a Gospel dispensation, which shall be 
perpetuated through all time to come, and extend its 
influences over all the nations of the earth. We are 
also told that this system is entirely superior to the 
one devised by the Father, because in this is found the 
only possible salvation of the souls of the human race 
from eternal damnation. Now, if he accomplished all 
this during his short sojourn here upon our planet, he 
performed not only more than the Father did in the 
four thousand years previous, but a thousand-fold more 
than was ever contemplated in the religious system He 
established upon the earth. 

This Jesus never claimed to be any more than the 
direct descendant of the Infinite Father; from whence, 



344 THE GOSPEL OF NATUEE. 

then, did he obtain all this superior power and ability? 
From whence did he obtain the authority to abrogate 
the laws published upon Mount Sinai, before they had 
been legally repealed by their Author? And from 
whence did Paul, the great Apostle to the Gentiles, 
obtain his authority to say the old covenant was not 
faultless, and therefore it ought to be replaced by one 
which was new and better? 

When Paul says that Jesus was a mediator of a 
better covenant, and that the old one was not without 
faults, he denies the infinite wisdom of the Author of 
the old covenant; for, assuredly, nothing imperfect or 
faulty could proceed from a being possessed of infinite 
wisdom and power. When he disputes the authority 
of the old one produced by the Father, and then says 
Jesus has produced a better one, and that he only acts 
as mediator or intercessor under the Father, he talks 
like a fool. Jesus, as an individual, was a person who 
came into existence but a few short years previous, was 
born of a woman, and, far as any human observation 
could go, performed all the functions of a man; was 
subject to death, and to the pains and sufferings inci- 
dent to humanity in all particulars; an individual who 
groaned and sweat and shed tears and endured indig- 
nities from the rabble. And now, to suppose that he 
who was only preparing to act in a subordinate capa- 
city was capable of producing a better covenant than 
the Eternal Father, whom he acknowledged to be 
infinite, is one of the most stupid and unmeaning ideal 
pretenses ever presented to intelligent minds, even by 
Paul. 

God had made a covenant with Israel, and estab- 



THE CONFOUNDING- OF LANGUAGE. 345 

lished a law, and gave instructions in regard to cere- 
monials, sacrificial offerings and atonement for sins; 
and there is not one syllable in all this record stating 
that He ever annulled one sentence of that law, or 
changed one of the ceremonials of His divine worship. 
Yet Paul comes in and says the covenant was faulty, 
that the ceremonials were improper, and that the 
sacrifices and offerings instituted by this God were 
inefficient, and did not answer the purposes designed 
by their Infinite Author. For, " it is not possible that 
the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins," 
says Paul. " For on that day shall the priest make an 
atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be 
clean from all your sins before the Lord," said the 
Infinite Father. 

Paul represents that the old covenant established by 
God not only had its faults and imperfections, but that 
it was decayed, that it " waxeth old," and was ready to 
vanish away. God said this shall be an everlasting 
statute unto you, to make an atonement for the chil- 
dren of Israel for all their sins. Thus we discover 
that the language is confounded, and that whatever the 
Supreme God might have said, Paul or some one else 
could ignore and contradict His language with perfect 
impunity, and build up entire new systems upon the 
" old decayed " ruins of that which they acknowledged 
was established by the Supreme God, and which they 
do not say was ever subsequently abrogated by the 
same authority. 

If we had space to examine the whole series of pro- 
phetic declarations that are said to have had direct 
reference to the coming Messiah, we should find every 



346 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

one of them vague and uncertain, and that there is not 
one particle of absolute evidence that any one of the 
prophets made the least allusion to any particular 
person who lived, or was to live, about the commence- 
ment of the first century. The wonderful statement 
in the ninth chapter of Isaiah, which is so generally 
supposed to have direct reference to the man Jesus, 
carries nothing upon its face that will prove any such 
fact. We ask if any government was ever placed upon 
his shoulders; has he at any time, in any proper sense 
of the term, ever received the title of " Wonderful," 
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, 
or the Prince of Peace? 

The reader will pardon us if we quote the single 
succeeding passage of this confounded language: " Of 
the increase of His government and peace there shall 
be no end upon the throne of David, and upon His 
kingdom to order it, and to establish it with judgment 
and with justice from henceforth even forever. The 
zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this." 

In this very lucid passage, we have a specimen 
brick, an admirable representative of nineteen-twen- 
tieths of all that was written by all the prophets of 
the Old Testament, from the first word spoken by 
Isaiah to the last one uttered by Malachi, which have 
been preserved with so much care and veneration, 
and which constitute so large and important a part 
of this infallible record. In these numerous proph- 
ecies, written by all this large number of prophets, 
there is not one word which would indicate that the 
Hebrew God ever had a thought of abolishing the 
ceremonial law given to Moses, and establishing any 



THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 347 

other in its stead. The reasoning of Paul upon this 
subject, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, is of the most 
flimsy character. Admitting all that Jeremiah said 
upon this subject to have come directly from this God, 
the covenant spoken of was to be made with the house 
of Israel. It says nothing about offering himself a 
sacrifice to himself to appease his own wrath, neither 
does it make the least allusion to any other atonement 
except the one established in the law. It simply pre- 
dicts that he would make a covenant with the house 
of Israel at some future time; that he would put his 
law in their inward parts and write it upon their 
hearts; that he would be unto them a God, and they 
should be unto him a people. That there should be 
no necessity of teaching any more, saying know the 
Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of 
them unto the greatest. 

There are said to be at the present time sixty-one 
thousand ministers of this new gospel in the United 
States, and doubtless every one would testify that the 
people have great need of their services in teaching; 
and that but very few indeed could be found, even at 
this late age, either small or great, who know much 
about the Lord who spoke through Jeremiah the 
prophet. Yet this man Paul, who wrote nearly 
eighteen hundred years since, would have us sup- 
pose that this prophecy of Jeremiah was fulfilled at 
his day, in his vain endeavor to prove the validity 
of the new system of religion. If God ever made 
any such covenant as the one spoken of by Jeremiah 
and quoted by Paul, we certainly have no evidence 
that it is yet established upon the earth; for, as far as 



348 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

human observation goes concerning this matter, there 
seems to be comparatively few who claim to have 
become a law unto themselves, and those, if any, are 
not particularly confined to God's chosen people, the 
Israelites. Paul utterly fails in the attempt to prove 
that any of the prophets had predicted that a new 
plan should be devised at any time by which sins can 
be washed away, or atoned for with greater facility 
than the one taught by God to Moses, and he himself 
is alone entitled to the credit of originating the whole 
institution, and then bringing, by a confounding of 
language, a few of those prophetic declarations as 
arguments in support of his theory. But they are 
spread on so very thin and become so transparent 
that their fallacy may be easily discovered by any 
ordinary mind who will give the subject his atten- 
tion, and who can bring a candid, unprejudiced judg- 
ment to bear in its consideration. 

Before leaving this subject, we wish to say a few 
more words in relation to the important doctrine of 
loving our enemies, inculcated by Jesus, in opposition 
to the sentiments taught by his Father. This subject 
of love and hatred seems to lie underneath the foun- 
dations of the whole superstructure of human asso- 
ciations, and the conditions of all society depend very 
much upon what they love and what they hate. Upon 
this matter of loving God and thy neighbor, said 
Jesus, hangs all the law and the prophets. If love 
and hatred are of such vast importance, then it 
becomes a matter of great interest to humanity to 
know in what manner these two opposing sentiments 
should be directed. When a moral teacher proposes 



THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 349 

to overthrow the instructions so entirely of an infi- 
nitely wise predecessor, upon a point so vital and of 
such great import, it becomes us who are to be gov- 
erned by these instructions to inquire into their true 
nature and the grounds upon which his conclusion 
concerning them are based. We may also inquire 
whether it is within the bounds of possibility for 
man to obey the new injunctions which are meant 
to supersede the old. If this founder of the new 
system which he proposes to erect upon the ruins 
of the old, starts out with an idea as a basic element 
introduced into the new structure, which controverts 
the teachings of his Infinite Father, and which was 
never practiced by God or man up to the present 
time, and which cannot by any possibility be adopted, 
then we ought to understand this matter. " Love 
your enemies" is the governing principle. How 
beautifully this idea has been carried out by the 
professed followers of Jesus since this doctrine was 
uttered, and how beautifully it is interwoven into 
the whole gospel system. How grandly this doctrine 
of love to enemies is presented to the mind in a great 
variety of Scripture passages, said to be the utter- 
ances of the very person who would make this kind 
of love the basic element of the religion he taught. 
Such language as " Depart ye cursed into everlasting 
fire prepared for the devil and his angels"; " He that 
believeth not shall be damned"; "Ye serpents, ye 
vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell," to 
say the least, is rather harsh in its character to be 
addressed to those we love; and, if it means any- 
thing, so far from expressing any love, it manifests 



350 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

the most profound hatred. The persons addressed 
are evidently the enemies of Jesus and his gospel — 
the very beings of all others he has taught us to love — 
and he has, notwithstanding his own teachings to the 
contrary, cursed and damned them to the extent of 
his ability, and he proposes to do all that the most 
malignant hatred can perform to render them mis- 
erable to all eternity. Unless the language of this 
gospel is wonderfully confounded, and can be made 
to mean anything to suit the interpreter's precon- 
ceived notions, which we do not deny, it contemplates 
nothing but punishment for those who do not accept 
its provisions, or for those who continue to the end 
enemies to Christ and his teachings; and all the 
rewards that are offered, are to be granted exclusively 
to the favorites — to those who are friends and not 
enemies to Christ. "The smoke of their torment 
shall ascend up forever and ever. They shall be pun- 
ished with everlasting destruction from the presence 
of God and the glory of his power." This is all cer- 
tainly meant for the enemies of Christ. What, then, 
does all this nourish of trumpets in the outset about 
loving your enemies amount to, but so much wind? 
If he taught men to love their enemies, and to bless 
them who should curse and despitefully use them, 
and had the power and authority to annul the old 
statute, why is not this principle carried out? and 
why, if he has all power in heaven and upon earth, 
does he not love his enemies to the end, and make 
them happy and comfortable with his blessings? His 
worst enemies never did much worse than to curse 
him and treat him despitefully, and very few of this 



THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 351 

vast crowd who are placed upon the left hand, among 
the goats, have ever offered him the least indignity, 
but have, as far as they were able, treated him and his 
friends with generosity and kindness. The very worst 
offense they have ever committed is their unbelief; 
they have been so organized that they found it impos- 
sible, in their nature, to give credence to the general 
sentiments contained in this or any other so-called 
gospel, and for this alone, they have been and are to 
be cursed, and it is said of them, " Yengeance is mine, 
and I will repay, saith the Lord." This and the fore- 
going, and a great deal more of this character, is gos- 
pel, and if the language is not confounded and means 
anything, what can it all mean? It either means that 
Jesus had no power to annul the old statute, or if he 
had, that he was establishing a rule for the observance 
of his followers, that he never intended to carry out 
himself; for, if he has the power, and ever intended 
to be governed by the rule, he is under every obliga- 
tion to love his enemies to the last, aud to bless them 
with those benefits he can confer. Now if he does 
this, whether he had died upon the cross or not, he 
never would behold his worst enemies scorching to 
all eternity in excruciating torments. Such are the 
fundamental principles that were to be established 
under the gospel dispensation. " I say unto you, love 
your enemies; resist not evil, but overcome evil with 
good. If thine enemy hunger, feed him ; if he thirst, 
give him drink." Now, unless the author carries out 
these sentiments in every particular toward the chil- 
dren of men, he stultifies himself, and demolishes the 
fabric he is endeavoring to construct; or, he proves he 



352 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

had no authority or power to destroy the old in order 
to build upon its ruins; and, that the whole scheme 
has failed to accomplish those results for which it was 
originally designed. 

We think the most cursory glance at subsequent 
church history will prove that the gospel dispensa- 
tion was not designed to bring peace on earth and 
good will to men, or establish the doctrine of non- 
resistance and love to enemies; for, if it was, there is 
nothing more evident than that its projectors were 
entirely incompetent to carry out their purposes in 
the least possible degree. To prove this it is quite 
unnecessary to recount the soul-sickening tale of 
horrors, the blood-red persecutions and martyrdoms, 
the Christian wars that have been inaugurated, and 
the rivers of human gore that have been poured out 
to appease the wrath of incarnate fiends in human 
form; and, for the maintenance and support of this 
gospel since its adherents have gained ascendency 
and power in the world. We need scarcely allude 
to the terribly destructive wars of the Crusades, 
which embraced a part of three centuries, and in 
which millions of human beings were sacrificed with 
intent upon the part of the perpetrators of those 
inhuman cruelties to perpetuate a gospel whose basic 
principle claimed to be non-resistance and love to 
enemies. 

It is sufficient to say, that the entire Christian 
church have, with the most trifling exceptions, from 
the days of Jesus to the present, always cultivated 
the arts of war, and ever engaged in mortal combat 
with their enemies without the least hesitation, and 



THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 353 

have been as ready to shoot and stab him to the heart, 
as the most open Infidel. They have never mani- 
fested a particle more love for their enemies than the 
most profane sinner. Neither does any one of them 
pretend that his future hopes of happiness depend 
upon any such condition, but nearly all of them 
acknowledge that self-defense is the first law of nature 
and of God; and, that it is laudable and proper to 
practice the manly art of war. There is not one of 
them to-day, in all the land, who will not, in their 
daily walk and conversation with their fellow-men, if 
occasion should require, give the direct lie to this 
teaching of Jesus, and prove to a demonstration, that 
they do not and never did love their enemies. It is 
a notable fact that there is scarcely to be found a 
devout and zealous Christian who will preserve his 
equanimity when his peculiar tenets are vigorously 
assailed. They almost universally manifest not only 
impatience, and a want of love for their opponents, 
but real anger, not unfrequently accompanied by 
bitter denunciations. They have ever exhibited this 
open enmity, accompanied by the most violent threat- 
enings as well as base calumny and vituperation, 
against all Infidels and unbelievers. So far from 
exercising love toward these individuals, they have 
extended toward them no shadow of mercy, but 
always consigned them to the depths of intermina- 
ble woe. We discover, then, that the language con- 
tained in the teachings of Jesus, must be terribly 
confounded and unmeaning, or else his followers will- 
fully disregard his instructions; and that he himself, 
as well as they, destroy the fabric by an entire repu- 
23 



354 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

diation of the very foundation upon which it claims 
to be erected. 

We shall discover, however, that the grand reason 
why these non-resisting and enemy-loving principles 
have not been carried out by either Jesus or his Chris- 
tian followers, is, because it is perfectly impossible, in 
the nature of things. Men have not the organs in 
their constitutional development which will enable 
them to love what they hate, or to turn the other 
cheek after the one has been smitten, or to give the 
miserable thief his cloak after he has stolen his coat; 
or to perform any such unnatural freaks. And, if 
Jesus or any other man ever did promulgate any 
such doctrines, it simply proves that he or they had 
never perused the unerring language written upon 
the unchangeable pages of the natural universe; and 
that they were destitute of the knowledge and com- 
mon sense required in order to qualify men to arrive 
at truth. 

It would not seem to require much thought to sat- 
isfy any candid person that both love and hatred are 
perfectly involuntary affections or operations of the 
human mind, which arise and are promoted by sur- 
sounding conditions; and that the individual has no 
control whatever over these peculiar emotions. No 
person can love what he hates, or hate what he loves 
from any sense of duty; neither can they cease at will 
to love that which has called out their admiration, 
and excited this passion, nor cease to hate, by any 
effort of their own, that which has excited their dis- 
gust and detestation. We must unavoidably love that 
which is admirable and lovely to us; and we must 



THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 355 

just as certainly hate that which is hateful, and at 
enmity with our natures; and there is no power 
within us by which we can avoid this result. It is 
perfectly impossible for any human organization to 
carry out the instructions of Jesus, in this respect, to 
the least possible extent. We might as well change 
light into darkness, or darkness into light, or exert a 
control by the powers of the will over any of the 
involuntary operations in the interior of the physical 
organism. 

If Jesus and Paul assumed the authority of over- 
turning and destroying Judaism, an institution which 
they acknowledged was established by the Supreme 
Jehovah, and building another to suit their own ideas 
upon its ruins, how much more may we claim the 
right to reject what they produced who were simply 
men, both born of woman in the ordinary manner. 
They themselves acknowledged that the Levitical law, 
with all its ceremonials and offerings and atonements, 
originated with an Infinite God, and yet they rejected 
the whole institution as of no practical utility; what 
shall we, then, say of this unnatural fabric erected by 
them, who were but men in every sense of the word, 
who did not bear in their persons, either mentally or 
physically, the least indication that they were, consti- 
tuted differently from ordinary mortals. 

We cannot but discover, by a careful, unprejudiced 
perusal of this book, that this so-called Gospel comes 
to us in a confounded language; that it has no kind 
of authority; that it is entirely the invention of finite 
minds, and a very weak, lame, incongruous, unnatural 



356 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

invention at that, notwithstanding the fact that it has 
exerted so extended an influence in the world. 

There is a language which has never been con- 
founded ; it has never suffered from the mutations of 
time, or been corrupted bj a self-constituted priesthood, 
or perverted in order to subserve the vile purposes of 
selfish and depraved men, in any age of the world. 
This is that language that is penciled by the divine 
hand of nature upon every object, and which is written 
upon the very soul of all things. It speaks to the 
soul of man, and invites him to read those open pages 
that teach the same truths yesterday, to-day and for- 
ever, in order that he may obtain wisdom. There is 
no source of wisdom except in the soul essence of all 
tilings. There is no infallible book except the one that 
is inscribed upon nature's tablets. There are no truths 
but those found in the natural universe. Then those 
who would write books must first peruse this great 
volume, and draw his inspirations from its sacred 
pages; he must come into unison with the soul of 
those things of which he would write, else he is sure 
to go wide from the truth, and build up fabrics which 
are frail and unenduring, and Avhich are ever liable to 
be destroyed by succeeding generations. Whatever is 
not drawm from this universal fountain of all wisdom, 
and does not accord and harmonize with this language 
written upon the soul of all things in nature, contains 
the very elements of dissolution within itself; and 
there will always be found an iconoclastic Jesus or 
Paul to demolish these structures, and put forth their 
endeavors to build new ones upon the ruins of the old. 

They will always find that such covenants are 



THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 357 

encumbered with faults, that they decay and wax old 
like a garment, and require to be replaced with those 
which are new and better, and that institutions estab- 
lished without any regard to the plain teachings found 
in the infallible language of nature, which are only 
written in a confounded language inscribed upon parch- 
ment, are liable to decay and destruction, although they 
originated with a so-called Infinite God. 

Had the Levitical law, together with all that apper- 
tained to the instructions which are said to have been 
given by God to Moses upon Mount Sinai, harmonized 
and accorded with the grand principles and laws which 
pervade the universe of nature, had all this which is 
said to have proceeded directly from the God of nature 
been really natural, neither Jesus nor Paul, nor all the 
popes and priests who have been their successors, could 
have destroyed or abrogated one single syllable of that 
production any more than they could have abolished 
the geometry compiled by Euclid. The reason why it 
waxed old and was abolished and superseded was 
because it had no soul. It was not connected with and 
drawn from the soul essence of anything in nature — 
there was no enduring permanency attached to the 
institution; it was subject to decay, and could not be 
perpetuated, and the superstructure erected upon its 
ruins with so much apparent skill and ingenuity must 
share the same inevitable fate. It is marked most 
palpably with all the elements of decay and dissolution, 
and its utter destruction only awaits the general eman- 
cipation and illumination of the human mind, so they 
dare investigate without prejudice its real character- 
istics in order to understand its true merits. 



358 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

If the simple-hearted Jesus had possessed any 
proper understanding of the philosophy of human 
nature, he never would have founded a government 
exclusively upon the principle of love. Had he known 
that love and hatred were two antagonistic principles, 
both inseperably connected with his inner being, the 
one as necessary and important as the other; that they 
were a part of his organization, and that a human being 
would not be complete without the one as well as the 
other, he doubtless would not have made the foolish 
remarks he did concerning this matter. 

If he had understood that these antagonizing 
elements were required in the human organism — that 
combativeness was as important as the affectional 
group or the love organs, that destructiveness was as 
essential as veneration — that all the different organs 
had their uses, and each one was as necessary as the 
other, and that he himself, in order to be a man, must 
be in possession of all these various intellectual powers 
and faculties, he would doubtless have taken a very 
different view of this whole subject. His whole life 
and teachings prove conclusively the activities of the 
various organs — sometimes the one predominating, 
then again the other. When he twisted up the cords 
and made a whip, and slashed round and drove the 
money changers out of the temple and overturned their 
tables, he acted very much as other people do when 
their anger is aroused ; and he was no doubt under the 
influence of combativeness. He certainly did not 
manifest much love for the parties who, as he declared, 
had profaned the Lord's house. In these degenerate 
days a man would have been arrested and brought 



THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 359 

before the police court for a similar outrage; but those 
old Shylocks and dove peddlers seem to have endured 
this infringement upon their inherent and acknowledged 
rights very meekly, and without a single word of 
reply. 

This transaction, if it really occurred, did not come 
with an excellent grace from the author of the doctrine 
of "love your enemies," for it is not shown that these 
quiet traders were even enemies of any one, or that 
they had offered him any indignity or lain a single 
straw in his path, but that they were peaceably pur- 
suing their legitimate avocations, in order to obtain 
sustenance for themselves and families. If these 
citizens were in the temple attending to their various 
callings, they must have been there by permission of 
the authorities, else they could not have remained 
there; and by what authority did this man take the 
matter into his own hands, and in a lawless and violent 
manner overturn their tables, destroy their property, 
as w T ell as maltreat and beat their persons? If this was 
a fact — which we leave bible and Jesus worshipers to 
decide — then he was highly culpable under the law 
of justice, much more by this law of love he had been 
endeavoring to inaugurate. 

When he accepted the invitation to dine with the 
Pharisee, common propriety would have taught him 
conformity to the customs of the people whose hospi- 
tality he was enjoying, and common decency might 
have taught him to wash his hands and face before 
dining, and common sense should have withheld him 
from manifesting his impatience and combativeness 
under such circumstances. It was not only extremely 



360 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

rude and boorish, but a direct violation of his own 
fundamental principles, to pronounce such bitter 
denunciations upon this Pharisee and the other guests, 
and then call them fools to their faces. His peculiar 
manner of pronouncing his woes and his maledictions 
and curses was certainly anything but charitable or 
proper, even if the whole party had been his enemies 
under the Jewish law; but how much more culpable 
does he make himself when he is judged by his own 
teachings. It must be admitted by every candid per- 
son that there was not a single particle of the love 
element mingled in this whole transaction; but, on 
the contrary, that every word uttered upon this occa- 
sion was prompted by combativeness and hatred. He 
says, in so many words, "I am come to send fire on 
the earth. Suppose ye that I am come to give peace 
on earth? I tell you nay, but rather division. Except 
ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." Is there any 
love for enemies in all this, or anything but carrying 
out the principles of downright hatred? 

We very clearly perceive that this person did not 
understand this matter at all, or that he never intended 
to be governed by his own teachings, or by the prin- 
ciples he promulgated for the observance of others. 
We also learn that it is perfectly impossible to estab- 
lish any governmental authority upon the exclusive 
principle of love; and the idea that a ruler could sit 
upon a judgment seat and judge the world, after estab- 
lishing fundamental principles of this character, is 
perfectly preposterous. 

What could he do with those who had disobeyed his 
laws and become his enemies? Why love them and 



THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 361 

do good unto them and make them happy? How 
should he treat those who had cursed him and used 
him despitefully? Pray for them and confer any bene- 
fits upon them in his power; and if he does not, he is 
a transgressor of his own law and a hypocrite. 

Among the numerous vague and incongruous ideas 
men have gathered from this record, written in a lan- 
guage which was said to have been confounded by its 
reputed author, perhaps none have been productive of 
more mischievous results than the one concerning the 
mystic origin of Jesus Christ. Upon this single 
absurd and unnatural idea that the virgin was impreg- 
nated by an overshadowing of the Holy Ghost, or some 
spiritual being devoid of a physical organism, and that 
this man Jesus was the direct result of such impregna- 
tion, has been reared the whole fabric of Christian 
faith in a vicarious atonement for sin through his 
death, together with all that has appertained to all 
forms of Christian worship from that day to the 
present. Upon the mystic character of a seemingly 
trifling event that transpired about nine months pre- 
vious to the birth of the infant Jesus, with which an 
obscure young Jewish female named Mary, together 
with some unknown male, were most intimately con- 
nected, has been reared, and thus far perpetuated, the 
most stupendous religious fabric ever known to the 
world, and one that has for fifteen hundred years 
exerted an overwhelming influence over all conditions 
and grades of the most civilized society upon the earth. 
Were it not that this tremendous institution has been 
broken into very numerous fragments and subdivisions, 
it would sway the destinies of the world to-day, deprive 



362 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

its people of their inherent rights, and rule humanity 
with a rod of iron. 

Mankind is indebted at the present time for the 
civil liberties they enjoy to the elements of disunion 
that exist in this gigantic superstructure; for just so 
long as it was held intact no such liberties were 
enjoyed, neither could they be obtained until the huge 
beast was crippled, and shorn of his terrible power. 
But the monstrous animal is not dead; it is still rear- 
ing its deformed head, and pushing this way and that 
with its broken horns, and earnestly striving to gain 
ascendancy, although divided against itself; and our 
only safety from its encroachments depends entirely 
upon these divisions. 

How strange that all this unwieldy ])ower, and all 
this unbounded influence which has been exerted over 
the most civilized portions of the world for nearly 
sixteen hundred years in the past, should have been 
built upon so small a point and balanced upon such a 
slender pedestal. Had not this mystification over- 
clouded the real facts in relation to the conception of 
Mary, the Christian church never could have been 
erected upon the ruins of Judaism ; its strong battle- 
ments and lofty towers never could have presented 
their bold fronts to the civilized world. This covert 
and well concealed fact being so entangled and over- 
clouded by the obscurities of the confounded language 
of the bible, a selfish and designing priesthood have 
been enabled to take advantage of the ignorance and 
credulity of the people, while others have in great 
sincerity promulgated the doctrines of the various sects. 
Thus untold millions have been held in servile bondage 



THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 363 

to these various creeds during all this lengthy period, 
without the least hope of escape. And all this has 
occurred because no person knew, or could know from 
any recorded testimony, precisely the facts in relation 
to this particular conception of this young Jewess. It 
would seem, viewing this matter from our stand-point, 
that there was no occasion for doctors to disagree, and 
most probably not a case of this kind has occurred in 
modern times where there has been the least disagree- 
ment or doubt; but wherever conception has taken 
place, it has been universally conceded that there must 
have been a male physical organization connected with 
the transaction, however many visions or dreams any 
or all the parties might have been favored with. 

In support of the theory of an immaculate or spir- 
itual conception of a physical child, its advocates first 
ignore many of the immutable laws of universal nature, 
and regard them as of no kind of importance, although 
one moment after the conception took place they admit 
that such laws came into active operation. 

No one ever denied that the entire processes of 
gestation and parturition in this particular case was 
governed and controlled entirely by the same natural 
law which governs every other similar case, from the 
very moment that the conception had taken place. 
Then the question is narrowed down to this single 
point: Did the conception take place in accordance 
with universal natural law; and if not, what kind of 
law did control this operation? It cannot be said that 
this tiling was done without any law, for no act was 
ever performed unless there was a way in which, and 
a law by which it could be performed. This woman 



364 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

conceived, and brought forth a child. The question to 
be answered is, how was this conception brought about? 
If she conceived in accordance with the universal law 
of reproduction, which has been applied in every other 
instance in which conception has taken place since this 
or any other world had an existence, then this whole 
plan of salvation through Christ is a miserable fabri- 
cation, instituted by men, because he would have been 
an ordinary man, and could by no means have atoned 
for sins, if he had died a thousand deaths. Now, there 
being not one particle of evidence of a substantial 
character proving that this was an exceptional case, 
either upon the written records or upon the broad 
tablets of nature, how marvelous is it that men have 
been able to build up such a huge superstructure from 
such slender materials, or rather without any real sub- 
stantial materials at all. 

No matter how good or wise or pure this man 
might have been, or how eminent in any sense of the 
word ; no matter what he done or did not do, or how 
he died or what occurred after his death; the simple 
question comes right back to the character of the con- 
ception; was that natural? For every motion that he 
or the mother made from that moment, are admitted 
to be in perfect accordance with natural law. It is 
also admitted that the mother, on her part, conceived 
in a natural manner; and all that could possibly have 
been unnatural was simply the male impregnation. 
It would, in view of this reasoning, become imper- 
ative upon the part of those who place implicit 
reliance upon the especial divinity of Jesus and 
the consequent validity of the vicarious atonement, 






THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 365 

together with the divine appointment of the church 
of Christ, to show that there is some law by which a 
male spirit, destitute of a physical organism, can over- 
shadow or embrace a female form in such a manner as 
to result in conception, and the production of a phys- 
ical offspring. For certainly if there is no law, or no 
way in which it may be done, then it surely cannot be 
done, and it is very foolish and an utter confounding 
of language, to say it was done in this particular 
instance. "We are very gravely told that this was a 
miracle, and was done by the power of God, without 
any regard to natural law. Let us see. Whoever 
performs a miracle, must first know how it is done, 
and there must be a modus operandi in its perform- 
ance, or a law by which it is done, and if it is done 
inside the natural realms, it must be a natural law. 
So, if we admit it to have been a miracle, and it was 
performed inside the natural universe, then the law 
by which it was performed must also have been nat- 
ural, although individuals might have called it mirac- 
ulous. Could the transaction have occurred outside 
the natural universe, then it possibly might have been 
done in some different manner, though we should have 
had no interest whatever in the affair. But, it is fur- 
ther said, that the reputed father of Jesus was an 
Infinite God, and that he was the author of universal 
natural law; and that by virtue of his power over the 
law, he could change, repeal, annul, or suspend its 
operations at pleasure. Not exactly so, for the very 
moment he found it necessary to change one iota of 
his own law, he would prove most conclusively he was 
not infinite; that the law being changeable would be 



THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

imperfect, and that it could not be established by infi- 
nite wisdom, if any contingency could possibly arise 
rendering it necessary to change a single one of its 
provisions to the least possible extent. Neither has 
it ever been proven that any spiritual being exists 
who has power to change, or in any way interfere in 
the least degree w T ith any single law in active opera- 
tion in all the universal realms. So far from this, it 
is quite easy to show, that no intellectual power in 
existence can change in any manner the operations of 
any law of nature, however trivial it may appear. Is 
there any God who has power to change the order of 
the multiplication table, and make any alteration in 
the numerical relations connected with this depart- 
ment of arithmetical calculations, or change any math- 
ematical or geometrical law? Certainly not, because 
these and all other laws are eternal — they are a part 
and parcel of the universe itself — they have existed 
from all eternity, and no God could have existed any 
longer to have produced them. 

Those are natural laws, and all must admit that they 
are eternally fixed in their character ; they are a part 
of nature, and nature is infinite. It is indisputable, 
that all laws governing in every department of the 
infinite universe constitute a part of nature; hence, 
they must be as self-existent as nature itself; and by 
their operation all organized intellectual beings must 
have been unfolded to their particular status. 

Where, then, shall w r e find any spiritual being who 
can be any more than eternal, or who existed before 
the natural universe? If there is any being who is 
more infinite in duration than all the eternal cycles 



THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 367 

of the past, and had an existence when there was no 
time — no universe and no law — where could he have 
been found, and by what law could he have existed ? 
We may readily discover, without further reasoning, 
that there can be no individualized spiritual being, 
with an intellectual organism, who is more eternal 
than natural law; for, they could not have been pro- 
duced without a law by which such productions are 
made possible. It is plain, that it would be perfectly 
impossible for any being, no matter what his charac- 
ter, or the extent of his exaltation, to interfere in the 
least degree with the full operation of any law in any 
of nature's various departments, unless he existed 
previous and assisted in the production of the law. 

As we find such cannot be the case, then it becomes 
a self-evident fact that natural law must have governed 
the male impregnation of this young female before 
the fact of conception could possibly have taken place, 
precisely as it has in every other instance since the 
first child was born, or the first animal brought forth 
its young; and this extremely frail, slender, and uncer- 
tain foundation is removed from under the whole 
affair. Thus we find the Christian religion stands in 
the same category in which they have placed all other 
religions which have originated among men; this, too, 
is a waif upon the ocean of time. It has had its 
origin and exerted its influence; it will live out its 
appointed time and pass away, the same as any other 
religion that has ever been established, and be remem- 
bered as a historic wonder by some future generations. 
Yes, the time is probably not far distant when the 
great mass of the civilized world will marvel that 



368 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

their fathers could have been so deluded as to give 
credence to a system of beliefs resting upon such a 
frail foundation, and one, too, diametrically opposed 
to every natural principle in the universe. Did not 
this faith in the unnatural conception of Jesus, the 
divine character of his teachings, and his miraculous 
power of remitting sins by virtue of his own death, 
exert such a widespread influence in the world at the 
present time, it would be quite needless to waste so 
many words in relation to the subject. But many 
millions of innocent and ignorant men and women 
are held in servile bondage, and compelled to supply 
the wants of an indolent priesthood, and contribute 
to the support of the various churches, simply because 
they do not understand the fallacy of this institution, 
and the true nature of the foundation upon which the 
whole superstructure has been erected. When they 
can understand this matter in its true light, they may 
not only be relieved from all these burdens, but may 
be permitted to acquaint themselves with the divinity 
of laws and principles existing all around them, and 
may become untrammelled and unfettered by the 
creeds and prejudices which originated in a ruder age. 
They may become free, and assert the dignity of their 
own independent manhood, and no more inquire, 
cringingly, of some ignoramus of a priest, what they 
may think or what they may speak. It is for this 
reason, and this alone, that we make any further 
inquiry into the confounded language of the written 
record for its testimony concerning this spiritual 
conception of a physical child. 

It is simply said by Matthew, that the mother of 



THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 369 

Jesus was found with child by the Holy Ghost, after 
having been espoused by Joseph, but before they had 
come together. That Joseph, being dissatisfied with 
this state of affairs, and being a proper kind of a 
man, and not desirous of making disturbance that 
would reach the ears of the public, "was minded to 
put her away privily." But his mind dwelling 
intently upon these things, he had a dream, in which 
he supposed a spiritual being, or as he termed it, an 
angel appeared unto him, and said, " Joseph, take 
Mary thy wife; she's all right. It was the Holy 
Ghost, a spiritual somebody, that is the author of the 
impregnation, and it is from this source that the 
conception has taken place." 

Now, says Matthew, this was done that a prophecy 
might be fulfilled; saying, "Behold, a virgin shall be 
with child and bring forth a son, and they shall call 
his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God 
with us." And thus this apostle and biographer 
makes his case respecting the spiritual character of 
this conception. It might be well, if possible, to 
make some inquiry concerning this mystical being, or 
thing, so often spoken of by the New Testament 
writers, and called the Holy Ghost. Who or what 
was it? A spiritual entity or individuality, having 
an intellect and all the functions of a living, spiritual 
being, or was it a principle, or an essence, or what? 
Let echo answer, for if echo does not, there is no other 
thing that can. It is sometimes called the spirit, the 
comforter, the third person in the trinity, and a very 
great many things are ascribed to this mythical some- 
thing besides overshadowing virgins and begetting 
24 



370 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

physical children. All, however, is vague, indefinite, 
cloud j and intangible; so that it is perfectly impos- 
sible for an ordinary mind to comprehend what is 
really meant by this term Holy Ghost, any more than 
it is a ghost which is holy; presupposing there may 
be some ghosts that are not holy. We hesitate not to 
say, that there is not at present, nor ever was, an intel- 
ligent beiug upon the earth who had any rational con- 
ception of what was meant by this term Holy Ghost. 
"We bid defiance to all the clergymen in Christendom 
to offer any explanation upon the subject which will 
convey to the human mind an intelligent idea con- 
cerning this thing called the Holy Ghost, showing 
what it is, or was, what it does, and how or in what 
manner it does it, or where and when it has ever done 
anything, or whether there is any such being or thing 
in existence, or anything about it, more than a shad- 
owy, mythical idea. And this is what Matthew, who 
got acquainted with Jesus after he was thirty years 
old says, the Father dreamed concerning this concep- 
tion, and the dream was satisfactory as far as the 
simple young carpenter wa6 concerned. But is this 
dream to satisfy the intelligent, thinking minds of 
the present and future centuries upon this subject? 

In further proof of this subject, Matthew refers to 
a prophecy of Iasiah, but does not quote it correctly. 
The prophet said, " Behold, a virgin shall conceive and 
bare a son." There is nothing particularly remarka- 
ble about this prophecy, as he does not say she should 
conceive by any other than the ordinary method; and 
she should call her son's name Emmanuel. This 
prophecy could not have referred to this case at all, 



THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 371 

for this son was called Jesus, and never was known 
by any such name as Immanuel. This prophecy of 
Isaiah is understood by all biblical scholars to have 
been completely fulfilled within a few short years 
from the time of its utterance, and here is all that 
can be gathered from this author in relation to this 
matter. 

Luke changes the dream of Joseph into a vision 
experienced by Mary. He says (but he does not tell 
upon wdiat authority), that the angel Gabriel was sent 
irom God to this virgin to inform her that she should 
be overshadowed by this shadowy Holy Ghost, and 
that she should conceive and bare a son. As Mary 
had this vision all alone by herself, probably many 
years before Luke was born, he must have obtained 
his information from her. In this day and age of the 
world, the story of such a vision, coming from such a 
source, under such circumstances, would be rather 
thin, and would go very little ways toward establish- 
ing even the paternity of a so-called illegitimate off- 
spring; much less would it prove such offspring to be 
the immediate son of an Infinite God, and that she 
had been impregnated by the overshadowing of some- 
thing which a few men in that day were pleased to 
call the Holy Ghost. This is about the sum and sub- 
stance of Scripture testimony in relation to this vital 
point; vital, because if it cannot be proven by sub- 
stantial evidence that this conception was produced 
by other than a physical being, and that this girl was 
absolutely impregnated, not by an imaginary Holy 
Ghost, but by the Christian God himself personally, 
and not by proxy, then the vicarious atonement can- 



372 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

not be worth a straw, and the whole institution falls 
to the ground. 

If it was absolutely necessary that the Jewish God 
should send a part of himself into this world, in any 
such manner, in order that he might die to satisfy his 
own wrath and render himself more placable, why 
was it done in such a bungling manner? Why was 
he indebted solely to natural laws for almost the entire 
mode by which the son was introduced into the world, 
barely exerting his own infinite power at a point 
where positive proof could not possibly be obtained? 
It is not to be supposed that this young Jewess would 
have admitted witnesses to the only event which could 
decide this question, neither is it supposed that- her 
personal testimony would have been good, whatever 
she might have said in relation to the affair. But 
she simply says, as we learn from Luke, that she had 
a vision, and leaves her friends to draw their own con- 
clusions from the vision she related, without making 
any allusion whatever to the real event that caused 
the impregnation and consequent conception. We 
cannot discover in all this one particle of testimony 
that could have been of the least weight in any civil 
court where the legitimacy of an heir was called in 
question, and if not, how supremely absurd for intel- 
ligent men in this more advanced age of the world, to 
promulgate doctrines destitute of any shadow of foun- 
dation, or to base their highest hopes of future hap- 
piness upon a mythical scheme so utterly devoid of 
common sense or common honesty. 

It is said in this age of scientific investigation that 
both the silk worm and the bee are capable of repro- 



THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 373 

ducing of their own kind without the aid of the male. 
Whether this is an absolute fact in the economy of 
nature or not, our religious doctors have seized upon 
the idea with great avidity, and blazon it forth with an 
air of triumph, as positive evidence that a child might 
have been conceived in the womb of a virgin who had 
not known man. But there appears to be some diffi- 
culties to be removed before these cases become 
parallel. It is not claimed that the virgin did not 
require the assistance of a male in order to produce 
conception, but the record emphatically declares there 
was a male connected with the transaction; and to 
make it a miraculous affair, it simply represents that 
the male party was a ghost. And now, in order to 
render the honey bee and silk worm phenomena 
evidence in this case, it will be necessary to show by 
the demonstrations of science that each separate bee 
and worm has been overshadowed by a holy ghost of 
that description ; also the existence of a law in nature 
which renders such a fact possible. When this is fairly 
done, and it is proven beyond a doubt that a silk worm 
ghost and a honey bee ghost, holy or unholy, may 
overshadow and impregnate these respective females 
in accordance with natural law, in a way and manner 
similar to the overshadowing of the Blessed Virgin, 
then these facts in nature may be received as evidence 
in support of the immaculate conception. 

The introduction of such specious though flimsy 
arguments as these in support of the vicarious atone- 
ment — the most vital element of Christianity by the 
popular clergymen of the day — shows conclusively the 
existence of two conspicuous facts. The one is, that 



374 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

the intelligent, thinking portion of the ministry have 
discovered, and are compelled to acknowledge, that 
natural law is a prime factor, which seems to be so 
intimately connected with, and has so much to do in 
regulating the affairs of this universe, that it cannot 
be ignored, even in matters of religion. The other is, 
that a cause that requires bolstering up and supporting 
by such far-fetched and idle subterfuges as the one 
presented, is exceedingly weak, and evidently totter- 
ing to its fall. 

" How are the mighty fallen," wheu the central idea 
of the great fabric of Christianity that has wielded for 
so many centuries such an extended influence over the 
civilization of humanity, must stand or fall upon the 
process by which drone bees and silk worms are gen- 
erated! Sometimes even very eminent scientific men 
have labored under serious errors, and particularly 
upon this subject of generation. For quite a lengthy 
period spontaneous generation was the generally 
accepted theory among the savans; now it is wholly 
repudiated. 

But as the matter now stands, we shall be compelled 
to submit the question of the validity and efficacy of 
the atoning blood of Christ to a committee of scientists, 
whose duty it will be to enter into an exhaustive 
investigation of the entire matter of the generation of 
silk worms and honey bees; and what if those gentle- 
men should finally stand eight to seven, and thus 
jeopardize the eternal salvation of untold millions of 
the generations to come? 

While questions of such a character are agitating 
the public mind, the universal elements of progressive 



THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 375 

unfoldment are carrying us forward; and but for this 
no one would have looked out into the broad fields of 
nature for evidences in support of an old fossilized 
religion, which exhibits so many symptoms of decay. 
A few years since no one pretended to inquire whether 
the dogmas he had adopted and professed to believe 
were in consonance with natural law or not. It was 
not supposed such a thing was necessary, for the God 
they worshiped was able to make it truthful law or no 
law. It is a happy omen that some of these devotees 
have discovered that the machinery of nature is in 
active operation, and moves steadily forward regardless 
of sectarian creeds, and that henceforth it will be 
imperatively necessary to square all religious beliefs 
by her dictum, if they would even approximate truth. 
It is quite generally supposed that this person to 
whom we have referred not only made his entry into 
our world in this unheard-of manner, but that he was 
endowed with capability, and had the divine authority 
to institute and establish a code of morals or individual 
and social ethics for the observance of all peoples, of 
whatsoever name or nature, during all time to come. 
If such was the fact, he either possessed this ability 
and authority inherent in his own personality, or he 
must have received it from some other party who had 
it to bestow. But in our ignorance we cannot dis- 
cover any arrangement in a universe where all are 
possessed of equal inherent rights, by which such 
power may be given to one without the consent of at 
least a majority of the whole. I think we may with 
great propriety query how this individual came to be 
vested with authority to establish a law for the observ- 



376 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

ance of the entire people, while they are deprived of 
all right to even inquire into the expediency or justice 
of such enactments. In these days of republican insti- 
tutions it would certainly appear more democratic to 
have some show of popular representation, and to 
establish laws for the government of intelligent men 
and women, as near as may be by the consent of the 
governed. 

It has been said that suitable laws for our individual 
government should at some time be written on men's 
"inward parts; " and it is strongly hoped by all lovers 
of humanity that the people may so unfold as to be a 
law unto themselves. If so, then each individual must 
establish his own code, and govern himself in accord- 
ance with its provisions. 

All enactments for the proper government of every 
class of intelligent beings may be found in the natural 
universe, without any resort to supernatural revela- 
tions; and we may discover such as are appropriate to 
our needs as rapidly as we unfold and are capable of 
their just appreciation. No person, whether in a 
private or social capacity, ever adopted any rule for the 
regulation of his conduct that he did not find some- 
where inside of nature; and it is quite impossible for 
any man or set of men to adopt a system of moral 
ethics beyond their powers of appreciation. We can 
by no means suppose that the people of to-day are 
entertaining the same views concerning their own 
well-being, and the well-being of the multitude, that 
they will one thousand, or even one hundred, years 
from to-day; and hence the rules and regulations 
adopted for the promotion of the highest interests of 



THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 377 

individuals, as well as of society, must continually 
change. No written code of moral or civil laws can 
be perpetuated unless they are a faithful transcript 
from nature's divine pages. The least deviation from 
a true copy introduces the seeds of dissolution; and 
this appears to be the paramount reason why human 
and so-called divine statutes are exhibiting these 
unmistakable signs of decay. 

The Mosaic law, with all its ceremonials, which, as 
it is claimed, have come to men direct from the 
Omniscient and Immutable God, and which are 
declared to be a correct transcript of His will concern- 
ing the forms of worship with which He desired to be 
honored, as given through His chosen prophet, have 
all become a dead letter upon the statute book. Has 
this Immutable God changed, that He no longer 
requires this kind of service; or is this silent abroga- 
tion of this lengthy code of laws an indubitable 
evidence of their mundane origin? Most certainly the 
latter; for if the Unchangeable God required at the 
hands of men roast beef and mutton at that day, He 
must require it to-day, else He is a changeable being, 
and not such a God as represented. 

But then, says the bible worshiper, the ten com- 
mandments, which come to us through Moses as the 
oracles of God, will be as enduring as time. Here we 
have a basis of all moral ethics — a system of juris- 
prudence that never can be superseded or disregarded 
by the good and the virtuous. We inquire the reason 
why some of these so-called commands are so enduring? 
Is it because they claim to have been published to the 
world upon two tables of stone, and engraved by the 



378 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

finger of the Hebrew God? Far from it; but because 
such laws are written upon the walls of nature, they 
were eternally graven upon the broad tablets of 
universal matter, and they were as well understood by 
the ancestors of Moses as by him. 

Can it be said, with any kind of propriety, that God 
revealed to Moses what was perfectly comprehended 
previously and aside from such revelation? If it was 
understood and comprehended previously, how could 
it have been a revelation at that particular time? This 
revelation certainly taught nothing more concerning 
adultery than was perfectly understood by Joseph 
several hundred years before, when so severely tempted 
by the beautiful Mrs. Potiphar. It surely taught 
nothing more about the worship of the Hebrew God 
than was well understood by Abraham when he pro- 
posed to sacrifice his only son in His honor; and the 
whole decalogue could have revealed nothing but what 
must have been well understood and practiced by 
Enoch, who, it is said, walked with God three hundred 
years, and was His special favorite, and finally taken 
up bodily into the Jewish heaven. 

All these parties lived and died long before Moses, 
and never heard or had a thought of the two tables of 
stone; and yet they must have been well versed in all 
the moral sentiments contained upon them. Confu- 
cius lived and died, and probably never heard of 
Moses; and if he had he would have cared nothing for 
him or his God either, and yet he published to the 
world a system of moral ethics as eminently calculated 
to produce honesty, integrity and virtue among men 
as did Moses or any of his successors. What is still 



THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 379 

more concerning the Chinese philosopher, he was 
never known to deviate in his practice from the teach- 
ings he promulgated. 

But Moses, who taught his followers the decalogue 
saying thou shalt not kill, commenced his public career 
by murdering an Egyptian and secreting his dead body 
in the sand. He went down from the mountain with 
this very commandment under his arm, and issued the 
imperative order, as coming from God, that "every 
man should slay his brother, and every man his com- 
panion, and every man his neighbor," until the children 
of Levi, in accordance with this mandate, massacred 
three thousand of the people upon that day. This 
brilliant achievement was performed, it is said, that 
"every man might consecrate himself unto the Lord; 
upon his son and upon his brother, that the Lord 
might bestow a blessing upon them." And that 
peculiar mode of consecration has been practiced 
extensively by the devotees of the bible and the blood- 
thirsty Hebrew God from that day almost until the 
present, and would have been practiced to-day had not 
the advancing tide of civilization prevented its con- 
tinuance. 

It was this bloody consecration to God that has 
caused those mighty torrents of blood to now recounted 
in almost every page of the history of the church, 
until the soul sickens with their contemplation. It 
has burned its thousands of innocent victims at the 
stake; boiled others in cauldrons of oil; broiled them 
upon gridirons constructed for the purpose; torn their 
limbs asunder upon racks, and introduced every species 
of torture that human ingenuity and malignity could 



380 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

invent, that the perpetrators of these horrid murderous 
outrages might consecrate themselves to the God of 
Moses. It was this kind of consecration that slaugh- 
tered the innocent and amiable Ulrich Zwingle and 
his followers in the valley of Lucerne. It hunted and 
persecuted and destroyed the Huguenots; it produced 
the horrid massacre of St. Bartholomew; aided John 
Calvin to kill Servetus; and has drenched the soil of 
Europe with the innocent blood of untold millions of 
victims. 

How much real intelligence, then, can be gained by 
a careful perusal of all the sickening details of this 
entire church history, from the day that Moses came 
down from Mount Sinai, broke in pieces the two tables 
of stone that Grod had engraved with so much care, and 
issued this order to the Levites that resulted in the 
slaughter of three thousand of this ignorant wandering 
tribe? Can we say that in all this religious history, 
in the abstract, with all its dogmatic teachings, its 
fightings, its bickerings, and controversies, ceremonials 
and beliefs, that any intelligence has been presented 
to the human mind of an elevating character; any that 
was calculated to raise him above the fountain head 
from whence all these religious ideas proceeded? 

In order to elevate and improve humanity you must 
have progressive knowledge; for how can you raise 
one generation of people above their predecessors 
unless you give them new thoughts — unless they gain 
an intelligence in advance of the past? Religion never 
claimed to be progressive. It was always conservative 
and retrogressive; it always carried its votaries back 
to the time of its origin. The religion of the Jews, as 



THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 381 

well as that established by Jesus and his Apostles, 
looks backward still to Mount Sinai and the Prophets; 
but ours more particularly to the hallowed days and 
holy land where miracles occurred — to the superemi- 
nent qualifications of the chosen Apostles, and the 
divinity of the meek and suffering Jesus. The 
Mohammedan turns his face toward Mecca; all turn 
backward for their highest ideal, their grandest con- 
ceptions of truth. 

Then, if humanity is to-day occupying a position 
any higher than were our forefathers in the days of 
Moses, we are by no means indebted to the religion of 
any age for the improvement. If we have made any 
advancement in point of intelligence, we have gained 
it in spite of the religious teaching that fain would 
have governed us and held us back. Religion has ever 
had a holy horror of new ideas, and a solemn reverence 
for all those which originated with its founders. It 
was the religion of the Jewish sanhedrim that sent a 
Jesus to the cross for announcing thoughts that mili- 
tated against their old fossilized opinions which came 
to them from the fathers. Jesus propagated a more 
advanced sentiment amid their anathemas and curses. 
Martin Luther brought down the ire of the church 
upon his devoted head for publishing his dissent from 
the prevailing opinions; and every individual who has 
taken one step toward universal freedom of thought 
has been denounced by the church, whether Catholic 
or Protestant. Even the sacred soil of the American 
continent, that asylum for the oppressed of all nations, 
has been desecrated by the blood of her martyrs who 
have fallen in the name of a cruel, unrelenting religion. 



382 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

And to-day, in this free and enlightened age, every 
liberal man proclaims his honest convictions under the 
perils of denunciation and perpetual ostracism from all 
the popular churches. 

These devotees to the religions of a past age are still 
dealing in anathemas and curses, and consigning those 
who do not bow at their shrines to torments that will 
never terminate, to a darkness that will know no light. 

Has all this been produced from any valuable intel- 
ligence that ever existed in their religion? Far from 
it. Had there been anything of that character attached 
to the religions of the past, they would not have shocked 
us with their horrid details, and stained the bloody 
hands of their devotees in the reeking gore of their 
innumerable victims. All this has been for the want 
of intelligence. It is the increasing knowledge of the 
present day that saves humanity from the horrid 
butcheries of the darker ages, when religion reigned 
supreme over the so-called civilized world; and it is 
the advancing intelligence of these later periods which 
is and will be read from the illuminated pages of 
nature's universal volume, that will finally triumph 
and eradicate the damning influence of such blood- 
stained superstitions, and banish them from the face 
of the earth. The tendency is evidently in that direc- 
tion. 

Ignorance and dogmatic arrogant bigotry have been 
the hand- maids of religion in all ages and among all 
people where its votaries have been found. It has 
ever regarded with distrust and jealousy an advancing 
intelligence that would enable the masses to think for 
themselves. It has always reserved the right to do 



THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 383 

the thinking, and bestowed it upon a chosen priest- 
hood. It does the same to-day; and a universal intel- 
ligence that would make an independent thinker of 
every man and woman would not only augur badly for 
religious interests, but would strike a death blow, and 
prove its final overthrow. It can never stand the 
clear, glowing illuminations of universal free thought. 
It has walked in all the bloody history of the past 
hand in hand with ignorance and human degradation, 
and had its fungus growth in the midst of darkness, 
bigotry and intolerance, and will retire before the 
light of that advancing intelligence that seems now to 
be brilliantly dawning upon our world. 

It is not a part of the real genius of even modern 
religious institutions to unfold and elevate the intel- 
lectual powers of mankind here in this life. It only 
proposes to save their miserable, wretched, sin-sick 
souls from the clutches of a mythical devil and the 
eternal torments of an imaginary hell. For this pur- 
pose, and this alone, did Jesus love and die; for this 
purpose was the vicarious atonement, with all its pre- 
ceding types and shadows, established upon the earth, 
that a chosen few might be saved to experience the 
delights of a Christian heaven, and chant the praises 
of the Hebrew God, where they might witness the 
sublime entertainment of that enchanted place, and 
behold the four and twenty elders forever crying holy, 
holy, and casting their golden crowns before the throne, 
without so much as deigning to pick them up in all 
the time; and where they can also see the "four beasts 
with eyes within and without, before and behind. " 
Oh! glorious and inspiring hopes! How admirably 



384 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

adapted to meet the intelligent aspirations of a culti- 
vated intellect! How beneficent must have been that 
being who has kindly prepared all this magnificent 
spiritual entertainment for His Christian followers! 
How exhilerating the thought that we may be made 
partakers in all this grand, raree-show, that so tran- 
scendantly eclipses the finest circus or menagerie ever 
exhibited upon the earth, by simply believing all the 
ridiculous dogmas presented in some one of the creeds, 
and attending to a few idle ceremonials! 

How utterly devoid are all these various concomi- 
tants of the religions of the ages gone by of that 
intelligence which tends to enlarge man's mental 
capacity or improve his capabilities! So far from it, 
that as a rule the most ignorant persons are the most 
devotedly religious, because they can believe the most. 
Strong faith in the unknown and unknowable is 
entirely incompatible with a cultivated intellectuality 
with an individual who has ability to trace effects back to 
their legitimate causes, and by intelligent analysis dis- 
criminate between the false and the true. Such per- 
sons must have a reason. Religion and reason never 
enjoyed any amicable relationship; they have always 
been at war, and the contest will continue until reason 
is entirely dethroned, and man becomes an abject slave, 
or until it assumes the prerogative, and all religions 
are banished from the earth. And happy for a strug- 
gling humanity will be the day when the numerous 
churches are converted into halls of science and lecture 
rooms, where natural knowledge, based upon some- 
thing real and substantial, shall be promulgated to a 
soul-starved people; where sickly fanaticism, idle 



THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 385 

superstitions, and a cringing homage to an imaginary 
being, shall give place to nobler and grander teachings, 
such as may convey to the mind real absolute knowl- 
edge. For no mentality has ever been improved or 
expanded or strengthened by any fallacious idea. It 
requires real truth — absolute, substantial, intellectual 
thought — to subserve the purposes of mental aliment. 
Beliefs and dogmas never yet answered that high pur- 
pose. 

The soul of man is as much in need of its appro- 
priate food as the body, and the food for the soul must 
not only be adapted to its nature, but must be of a 
real substantial or essential character, else the soul is 
dwarfed, and becomes sickly, the same as the body. 
If the physical system, which is gross and materialized, 
requires appropriate material food for its sustenance 
and growth, then the soul, which is but the spiritual 
essential element of the physical, requires real essential 
nourishment adapted to its peculiar wants; and it can 
no more be sustained and grow upon spiritual chaff 
than the body can be nourished upon material chaff. 
The soul is nourished and fattens upon the soul essence 
of that which it grasps, comprehends and digests, pre- 
cisely the same as the physical body. In both cases 
that which serves as food must be below that which is 
fed and sustained. Man lives upon those elements 
which are beneath him in point of development; he is 
sustained and enabled to perform his labors by par- 
taking of the animal and vegetable kingdom, and 
incorporating into his own being certain essences he 
obtains from them. Then the spirit within man being 
a real substantial thing, or that which is indebted to 
25 



386 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

atomic particles for its individuality, must subsist upon 
the soul essence of that which is less unfolded than 
itself. It cannot incorporate into its nature that which 
is above itself, or that which is finer, because that is 
beyond its powers of assimilation, and too fine to 
answer the purposes of aliment or food. 

The physical body of man or the animal seems to 
possess an intuitive power of discrimination, and 
selects with great care and certainty those various 
elements existing in the food of which they partake, 
which are absolutely required to impart strength and 
vigor, while the remainder is thrown off as unnecessary 
for its use, and would only prove injurious if it was 
retained within the system. The spiritual individuality 
should then be permitted to possess quite as important 
intuitive powers, and be abundantly supplied with 
capabilities, enabling it to select from the aliment it 
receives that which assimilates to itself and conduces 
to its growth and development, while it rejects the 
remainder as not only unsuited to its condition, but 
absolutely injurious in its tendency. Then we see it 
becomes as absolutely necessary that every spiritual 
individuality should digest and select its own spiritual 
aliment which it incorporates into its own nature, as 
it is for the physical body to digest individually the 
food of which it partakes. Hence, the priest can no 
more do my thinking than he can do my eating; he 
can no more digest my spiritual aliment or soul food 
than he can the food which nourishes my body. 
Neither has he any more ability to direct me in regard 
to my spiritual tastes, wants and requirements than he 



THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 387 

has in regard to my physical tastes, wants and neces- 
sities. 

Each individual partakes of both physical and 
mental or spiritual ailment for himself. Each one 
must digest their various kinds of food for them- 
selves, and that is all they can possibly do whether 
they be priest or layman, teacher or pupil. My phys- 
ical expands by virtue of that food and nourishment 
of which I individually partake and digest. My soul 
must expand by virtue of the soul essences which I 
individually gather and comprehend or digest, and 
both must gather all they obtain from below them. 
If there is a Jesus, or a Holy Ghost, or a God that is 
above us, we cannot partake of them, for in order to 
be above us, to be more exalted than we are, they 
must be composed of finer essences, such as can by 
no means come under the control of our spiritual 
digestion. We cannot partake of them; they are 
beyond our reach; entirely too etherealized to afford 
us any sustenance, and they, like us, if they obtain 
sustenance for themselves, must find it in that which 
is beneath, or in those elements that are not developed 
to their condition. The power that digests must be 
superior to the clement digested. The intellect that 
grasps and comprehends, must be superior to the 
intelligence appropriated; hence the nourishment it 
receives must be inferior to itself, and not from above. 
If superior intellectual beings give us intelligence, 
they must, having a clearer perception of the soul- 
essence of those things below us, present them to our 
mentalities in such a manner that we may appreciate 
them, and make them onr own. They cannot give us 



388 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

a comprehensive knowledge of those things which are 
entirely beyond our reach, and that we cannot grasp 
by any powers of intellect which we may possess. So 
that whatever we may hear or receive of such a 
nature cannot, by any means, contribute to our spir- 
itual growth, because it cannot become soul nourish- 
ment unless it may be digested or comprehended and 
made a part of ourselves. 

Hence it is that all dark, mystified book revelation, 
which is supposed to have come to us from supernat- 
ural beings existing in a realm beyond the boundaries 
of the universe, cannot be of any real value to the 
human soul, because practically the language in which 
it comes is confounded, and does not convey intellec- 
tual nutriment to the hungry soul. It is to be hoped 
that the time is not far distant when all books of 
so-called revelation will be estimated at their real 
value, considered merely as the productions of men 
w T ho have lived upon the earth, and entirely divested 
of all attributes of sacredness or holiness which dis- 
tinguishes them from other works and adds so vastly 
to their importance. Truth is no more than truth, 
though uttered by an angel; and that one which is 
appreciated and expressed by the simplest child is 
just as sacred as that which taxes the utmost energies 
of a God to grasp and comprehend. 



CHAPTEE IX. 

THE SPIRIT ABODES. 

The oft-repeated inquiry where do spirits dwell 
after having left the physical form, has probably 
not been fully answered; and it is hardly to be sup- 
posed that we can obtain more than an approximation 
toward an intelligent appreciation of so-called spirit- 
life with its appertainings, until we enter those more 
etherealized dwelling places, and realize their true 
nature for ourselves. Perhaps it might be more dif- 
ficult to ascertain where spirits do not dwell than to 
find the localities in which they might rear their 
pleasant homes, and surround themselves with all 
that is beautiful to their visions, and to the highest 
extent grateful to all their senses and perceptions. 
When we learn that spiritual beings exist in all pos- 
sible conditions, that all matter is spirit, and that all 
spirit is material, and that all masses of material sub- 
stance is but a congeries of spirit entities, that they 
exist in every conceivable state of development, and 
in every possible form, then the problem may not be 
quite as difficult of solution. 

Human intellects in search of suitable abodes for 
advanced spiritual beings have been quite generally 
directed to some remote portion of the universe. 
They seem disposed to think that the further they 
can get from our little planet, the purer, more serene 
and genial would be the surroundings; and that away 
off somewhere in the immensity, all of nature is 

(389) 



390 THE GOSPEL OF NATUEE. 

supereminently calculated and designed to furnish 
spiritual homes for the denizens of this world; or, at 
least, that portion of them who have earned a title to 
such homes by their scrupulous conduct while in the 
body. 

We are led to believe, indeed we consider it a truth 
so palpable that most persons will accept it without 
controversy, that there is no better materials in all 
the broad realms of nature than the atomic particles 
which are incorporated into our own earth; that no 
sun or planet in the sidereal heavens rolls in its onward 
march through any portions of infinite space, which 
is superior to the pathway our little world has made 
and will continue to make in all her future revolutions. 
Why, then, should we wander so far from our home, 
in order to find dwelling places that will furnish us 
that felicity we so much desire and expect to obtain? 
We are apprehensive that the very wide contrast 
between physical and spiritual vision has led many 
persons who are gifted with clairvoyance, which is 
but another name for spirit-seeing, into very serious 
blunders. We have reason to believe that many of 
these gifted individuals have supposed they were look- 
ing abroad into the great over-arched vault of the 
distant universe, and that they were taking an actual 
visual survey of realms far beyond the milky way, 
when really the furthest extent of all they saw would 
not reach beyond the limits of our own atmosphere. 

It would be well, before we attempt to obtain a 
knowledge of spiritual existence, to take into consid- 
eration that the physical eye through which we behold 
all objects, is extremely limited in its capacities; and 



THE SPIRIT ABODES. 391 

that as we rise to a more spiritualized state, the visual 
lenses increase wonderfully in power and capabilities. 
We find this eye composed of gross materials, and 
although very curiously contrived, and wonderfully 
well adapted to the physical organism, it can by no 
means be supposed to possess the power of an eye 
which is manufactured from substances inconceivably 
finer and superior. 

We have already shown that both size and distance 
are not absolute, but they only sustain a relationship 
to the peculiar character of the vision by which cer- 
tain objects are beheld, so that we cannot determine 
how large a minute particle may appear to a more 
spiritualized vision, only by beholding the particle 
with such an eye. We may conceive it quite possible 
from our experience with microscopic lenses, that our 
limited visions may be exceeded in magnifying power 
by others of a superior character, to an almost unlim- 
ited extent; so that the diminutive particles of atmos- 
phere, which are entirely invisible to us, may swell to 
the huge dimensions of a globe, and seem to revolve 
in the unlimited regions of space. To a spiritual 
being whose outward body is composed of substance 
a thousand-fold finer than the particles of atmosphere, 
each one of these would certainly become a solid globe 
as dense and materealized to them as the earth is to 
ourselves. Then, when we take into consideration 
that every minute particle of substance is a micro- 
cosm, or contains in miniature something of all that 
exists in nature's broadest realms, why would not one 
of these globes make a suitable habitation for a spir- 
itual being, or for a great multitude of such beings? 



392 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

Suppose we should take a cubic mile of our atmos- 
phere and commence to enumerate the particles by 
sextillions, we might probably live a very long time 
and then not be able to count in this manner the 
utterly incomputable sum. Then suppose we change 
our limited vision and place within the eye a lens 
which would magnify many thousand billions of 
diameters, we have probably not in our imaginations 
even now exceeded the bounds of possibility, yet we 
have swelled this cubic mile of space out until it 
passes our comprehensions, and we may find within 
its limits untold billions of revolving worlds, all pur- 
suing their courses with the exact precision of this or 
any other solar system. From whence came all these 
orderly movements and periodical revolutions among 
planetary systems, if the elements did not exist in the 
minutest particles of which all planets are composed? 
"We may very properly conceive that material sub- 
stane in a condition so diffusive, and so free to operate 
in obedience to universal law, as the fluid particles of 
atmosphere, may perform evolutions similar to a col- 
lection of worlds. For worlds and systems of worlds 
are but accumulations of the same kind of particles, 
and cannot manifest the operation of any law which 
did not exist in the single particle, and which would 
not necessarily be exhibited under similar conditions. 
Then it becomes very clear, that if the vision could 
be rendered sufficiently microscopic, we might behold 
all the evolutions, taking place with the infinitesimal 
particles which can possibly take place with planetary 
systems, and perhaps far more than have yet been 
recognized by the inhabitants of the earth. 



THE SPIRIT ABODES. 393 

It becomes a question of some importance whether 
the particles of atmosphere are moved bj a power 
within themselves or by some force that is entirely 
extraneous, and if they are not self-moving, perhaps 
science can teach us what that power may be which 
causes their activities, and produces the general circu- 
lation, as well as the violent tornado. However, we 
are apprehensive that science has as yet most signally 
failed in explaining all the phenomena of the winds, 
that the causes of their various activities are not alto- 
gether clear, but involved in no little mystery; and 
they may remain entirely obscured until it is better 
understood, that such fluid particles are living entities 
awaked to activity; and that they perform their move- 
ments, to a great extent, by their own volition. 

There are no doubt fixed laws which govern all the 
movements of the winds, and all their various activ- 
ities are evidently designed for the accomplishment 
of some high purpose, but the great difficulty is to 
understand the origin of the force that propels them 
at times with such velocity, or why they not unfre- 
quently assume a rotatory motion. Says Professor 
Maury: "The circulating channels of electricity are 
as yet hidden in the deepest night. Neither do we 
know what influence the land and the warm currents 
have thereon; even less than we know, what opera- 
tions are appointed for the hurricanes in the economy 
of nature." 

But we apprehend the time must come upon the 
earth when some knowledge of this matter shall be 
ascertained by men of science, and then it will be 
understood that the power which produces all these 



394 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

wonders exists and originates in the infinitesimal fluid 
particles of which these elements are composed. They 
must, therefore, sweep onward in their tremendous 
orbital journeys by a force inherent in themselves, 
regardless of the consequences that might occur, 
either to ships or men, who may happen to be in 
their track. 

It is of the utmost importance that the atmospheric 
particles should manifest this life and motion, else 
all things would become torpid and die. Then we 
inquire, how this life and motion can be produced 
unless in the individual particles themselves? If 
they were dead, certainly they could not collectively 
exhibit any thing but death. How much that is dark 
and mysterious is constantly taking place in the more 
spiritualized departments of nature's realms! simply 
because we understand so little of the true nature of 
these more etherealized elements. 

If our visions could by any possibility be opened 
to a perception of the real characteristics of the atoms, 
we should not be compelled to grope in such darkness; 
but we might arrive at a comprehension of the spir- 
itual more directly; as it is, we have been many long 
ages obtaining the glimmerings of light we now pos- 
sess in relation to subjects of this character. Our 
philosophy extends but little ways beyond the visible, 
and our theology is a mass of unnatural and unscien- 
tific delusions, only calculated to bewilder and render 
the darkness more obscure. 

But, as man is now, in this condition, to all intents 
a spiritual being, simply dwelling temporarily in a 
physical form, it becomes a necessity that he should 



THE SPIEIT ABODES. 395 

sometime awake to the real character of his spiritual 
surroundings, and become cognizant of both the facts 
and the philosophy of his whole nature. For, if he 
is to have a continuous objective existence, it must be 
real and tangible, and there must be as much philos- 
ophy, and as numerous facts connected with that 
existence as with the present, and, as we are person- 
ally interested in the matter, it would seem that an 
investigation of spirit life would be of intense inter- 
est to every inquiring mind. This would indeed seem 
a subject of great importance, when we take into con- 
sideration the senseless twaddle which is emanating 
from the lips of the most popular clergymen of this 
nineteenth century. They talk of souls entering the 
little Christian's heaven, as an angel with its wings 
held over its face, because it is ashamed of having 
done so little to merit reward; of casting their crowns 
down before the throne, and then looking around for 
their friends; of the resurrection of the physical 
bodies of all the hosts of individuals who have fallen 
in battle, or been eaten by cannibals or worms, and 
thus incorporated into other living forms, ad infini- 
tum. They continually reiterate the same ideas of 
spirit existence, only dressed in a fresher garb, that 
satisfied our semi-barbarous ancestors from two to 
four thousand years in the past, and for this sickly 
nonsense, the ignorant multitudes are willing to pay 
extortionate prices. We are compelled to acknowledge 
that every idea gathered from the Hebrew or Christian 
bible, concerning spiritual existence, is vague, unmean- 
ing, and puerile to the last extent; and that no con- 
ception is contained therein worthy of the least atten- 



396 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

tion from an intellectual mind of the present age. 
Every species of enjoyment to which any reference is 
made in all these scriptures in connection with the 
spiritual existence of the chosen few, are of the most 
fleeting and transitory character, and they are pre- 
sented to the mind entirely regardless of philosophy 
or common sense, or of the peculiar characteristics of 
those organisms which are to be the recipients of 
such pleasures. 

There is, perhaps, nothing that has been given to 
the world, even by the most barbarous people, in con- 
nection with a spiritual existence for man, that equals 
in absurdity, ridiculous puerility, as well as fiendish 
cruelty, the heaven and hell of the Christian bible. 
It inflicts eternal tortures, without any ray of hope 
or mitigation for non-compliance with its behests, 
and offers nothing that would be calculated to 
divert or amuse an intelligent mind for a single 
week, as a reward for a strict compliance with all 
its requirements. 

If man is a spiritual being or organization endowed 
with certain powers and faculties, and as such destined 
to occupy a spiritual condition where he may find 
enjoyment, that enjoyment, in order to be such, must 
certainly be compatible with his nature; it must be 
precisely adapted to his organs, or those powers with 
which he is endowed. It certainly would not answer 
to prepare one kind of happiness for all the endless 
variety of organisms which have come into existence; 
for if so, they would require to be so modified and 
worked over as to be adapted to that peculiar kind of 
enjoyment, and then the parties would be quite at a 



THE SPIRIT ABODES. 397 

loss to recognize themselves, and might be compelled 
to inquire concerning their own individualities. A 
spiritual realm too cramped and diminutive to furnish 
a realization of the highest hopes and aspirations that 
originate in every conceivable variety of intellectual 
organism, would be but a mean and miserable affair, 
and a God that would prepare such an one as an 
eternal dwelling place for a race of beings like those 
residing upon the earth, would make a grand failure 
and be entitled to the utmost contempt of all intelli- 
gent spirits. A spiritual existence, then, must be 
perfectly natural, and if so, it would seem quite prob- 
able that ancient Christian institution goose wings, 
together with all their feathers and quills, might be 
dispensed with, and no serious inconvenience result. 
It is also thought that sensible persons could get 
along without the four-and-twenty elders with their 
wonderful crowns, and the four marvelous beasts which 
are furnished with the six wings each, and eyes 
scattered about them in all sorts of places and in 
such marvelous profusion. Can any thing be more 
supremely ridiculous, or more distasteful to a culti- 
vated intellect? And yet the entire Christian world, 
at the present day, are pleased to call the place where 
this broad farce is said to be enacted, a heaven of hap- 
piness, adapted to their peculiar natures, and amply 
adequate to supply all the rational wants that can 
arise in their complicated soul organisms during an 
eternity. 

We can but express a willingness that parties who 
are seeking a heaven of that character, should have 
the opportunity of enjoying it to their heart's con- 



398 THE GOSPEL OF NATUBE. 

tent; but, viewing the matter from our present stand- 
point, we are quite willing to take our chances outside, 
where we trust we shall find all the machinery of the 
universe in active operation, and where we may pursue 
our researches and acquire that knowledge we could 
not obtain in this rudimental sphere. 

Where, then, is the spiritual realm, and where the 
homes of those who have passed the friendly portal of 
death, and live in a world invisible to physical eyes? 
Before going out into the far distant heavens, among 
the fixed stars, to look for some supereminently pleas- 
ant abodes, it might be well to take some further 
survey of this earthly domain. Let us, if possible, 
ascertain if very large numbers may not find suitable 
accommodations within its precincts, and if they 
might not devote many long ages, both agreeably 
and profitably, relatively near the homes of their 
childhood. 

Since neither science or theology have given us one 
ray of light upon this subject, if we gain any knowl- 
edge we must do it for ourselves independent of their 
assistance; and we may well rejoice to know that our 
invisible friends can come to our relief, and teach us 
as far as we are able to appreciate, concerning their 
present and our own future surroundings. But we 
must remember that we are now and ever have been 
spiritual beings, and any teachings upon this subject 
must perfectly harmonize with our present spiritual 
nature. It is the spiritual organism within us which 
seeks the home; and that home, if it is in any sense 
of the word a happy one, must be perfectly adapted to 
the wants of the spirit. The intimate relation between 



THE SPIRIT ABODES. 399 

the spirit here and the spirit there cannot be severed 
or broken in the least degree. We know the kind of 
home it requires in this condition, and we may be per- 
mitted to judge what kind of home it may require in 
a more ethereal ized state. The spirit cannot be 
changed materially by leaving the physical form — it 
is only set free, and changes its condition and exterior 
surroundings; therefore, if we are permitted to know 
the wants of the spirit while in the form, we may 
arrive at some proper conclusions concerning this 
matter after it has passed away. 

We have frequently made allusion to the fact that 
so-called matter and spirit were one and indivisible; 
that spirit was but a finer article of material substance, 
or that it was by a process of elaboration divested of 
the crudities attached to grosser matter. Hence, a 
spiritual organism composed of this finer material 
must necessarily find its dwelling place in the midst 
of material of a corresponding character. If it rears a 
building for a residence, the stone or bricks or wood 
of which it is constructed must be equally spiritualized; 
if it partakes of food, it must be the sublimated essence 
of such gross food as we consume, and all with which 
the spirit has to do must be of the same etherealized 
character; nevertheless, everything is just as sub- 
stantially tangible to them, and far more enduring 
than in this more crude and gross condition. 

All this is rendered somewhat dark and mysterious 
to us, in consequence of the feeble and gross character 
of those rather obscure windows of the human soul we 
are pleased to term the five senses, together with the 
various perceptive organs. "When we consider that 



400 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

these will be correspondingly spiritualized and intensi- 
fied, so that all this sublimated matter will become 
perfectly appreciable and tangible, our pathway to a 
discovery of some of the real facts connected with 
spirit existence becomes more luminous, and the ascent 
to those realms far more easy and natural. We are 
led to believe that almost unlimited realms may be 
found without so much as leaving this mundane sphere, 
where untold billions of spiritual beings might, if they 
chose, dwell amidst all the luxurious grandeur and 
gorgeous splendors that their etherealized conditions 
require. 

We must remember that the five senses, or the 
ability to see, hear, feel, taste and smell, are attributes 
of the soul; they are part and parcel of the spiritual 
nature, and do not cease their activities with the dis- 
solution of the physical; they serve us but partially in 
this condition, for these windows, given us to light the 
interior, are now obscured by gross material. 

We now behold all things in nature through an eye 
whose cornea, retina and pupil are but a mass or con- 
glomeration of gelatin, which would be quite soluble 
in warm water. The wonderfully curious arrange- 
ments of the ear, which transport every character of 
sound to the inner consciousness, are but a complica- 
tion of little cartilages and bones, quite gross in their 
nature. The most exquisite sense of feeling we expe- 
rience is only produced by the approximation of a 
fibrous net- work of nerves to the cuticle or scarf skin 
which covers the physical form. Taste, from which 
we derive such untold gratification, is communicated 
to our consciousness through the outer coating of the 



THE SPIRIT ABODES. 401 

tongue, and this, by a process of tanning, may be con- 
verted into a piece of leather; while the delightful 
aroma of the fragrant flower is transported and made 
appreciable to our inner beings through nasal organs 
that are often beslimed with disgusting mucus. These 
obscured portals are the windows of the soul while 
living in the physical form; these are the grand 
avenues that open up a passage way between the inner 
spirit and the outer material world; and through these 
come to us a very important share of the pleasures of 
existence. 

Suppose, now, we brush away all this accumulation 
of dust and cobwebs, this gross and earthy material, 
that obscures these fenestral openings through which 
the soul gains access to the outer universe; and sup- 
pose we re-glaze these windows with the pure elements 
which are found only in the celestial spheres, where all 
is transparent as unsullied crystal, and none of this 
gross, opaque, corruptible matter to becloud our 
visions or stupefy our other senses. 

Our spiritual bodies being composed of the subli- 
mated essences emanating from material that enters 
into the composition of the physical organism, of 
course all these sensuous powers will necessarily be 
intensified, and we shall come more directly in contact 
with the universe of nature, and behold more nearly 
the real facts, whereas we are now only made familiar 
with their semblance. We now behold the seven pri- 
mary colors only under very peculiar conditions; yet 
these gorgeous rainbow tints are incorporated into the 
very elements of nature, and exist everywhere; and 
when our visions are spiritualized, or when we look 
26 



402 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

through spiritual lenses, unclouded by gross matter, 
we may behold all the splendors of these and every 
shade of coloring as they really exist in the atomic 
particle. 

We see the stupendous mountain towering to the 
skies, and admire its gray and sombre outlines, and 
are deeply impressed with an idea of vastness and sub- 
limity ; but how narrow and feeble are our conceptions 
of the real character of such an apparently massive 
pile of solid granite! How little do we know of the 
gorgeous splendors, of the incessant activities taking 
place in the deep recesses, in the hidden chambers, of 
these inaccessible mountain cliffs! How vague, shad- 
owy and superficial are all our perceptions concerning 
the real nature of all things, when only scrutinized 
through these physical organs ! 

Let us just bring to bear the intensified powers of 
spiritual vision, and each particle of this solid granite 
swells and expands to its proper dimensions, exhibit- 
ing when examined by lenses of this character those 
unexplored fields in nature's realms which gross 
physical visions have never beheld. If each of these 
particles is a microcosm of all, then each one must 
contain something of all, and this powerfully magnify- 
ing spirit vision may be able to behold this wonderful 
reality. Each one is surrounded by its own atmos- 
phere; and although to our visions they seem densely 
packed together, yet the spirit power may expand that 
atmosphere to immense proportions, so that the solid 
rock vanishes away, and they behold in its midst one 
moving panorama of the busy scenes of active life. 

" In our Father's house there are many mansions," 



THE SPIRIT ABODES. 403 

and the spirit may find some of them in the depth of 
those huge towering mountain fastnesses, which seem 
so perfectly impenetrable to human vision. The doc- 
trine of the impenetrability of matter, which seems so 
well established in physics, may not be so clearly 
defined after all; for we must conceive it possible for 
the finer essences to penetrate the grosser particles, or 
pass between them. The indurate steel interposes no 
obstructions in the way of electro-magnetism. These 
fluid particles pass right along in their march as 
readily as if nothing was in the way; then why may 
not spiritual organizations composed of this and still 
finer materials enter and dwell in those vast corridors 
found amid the atoms composing the hugest mount- 
ain? The density is all in the eye, and our feeble 
visions are only a standard for us; they are weak and 
deceptive — they can reveal no absolute truths for con- 
ditions superior to our own. 

Spiritual vision may be so intensely microscopic as 
to separate the particles of cr/stal so they would be 
quite too far distant for neighbors, to use a common 
phrase. They may dwell in the sublimated atmos- 
phere surrounding these atoms, and amid all the over- 
whelming glories of their prismatic coloring; they 
may erect their elaborately decorated palaces, cultivate 
their fields, gardens and orchards, and pursue all the 
activities of their etherealized existence within the 
limits of a single grain of sand. Shall we be at a loss, 
then, to find a home for the spirit; and need we follow 
A. J. Davis to his stellar heaven, Kandolph to his 
Aiden, or Dick, the Christian philosopher, to the 
Pleiades, to find the grand center of the universe, 



404 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

where his God might possibly find a suitable dwelling 
place, and where His special favorites might be gath- 
ered around Him? Or shall we patiently wait for the 
arrival of the box-shaped New Jerusalem of St. John, 
whose walls are as high as they are long, and which is 
at some time to come down to our earth for the accom- 
modation of the saints? It is to be hoped this cubical 
heaven will be launched at the proper moment, and 
correctly aimed, so that in its descent it may strike 
the mark, for the velocity of this earth in its orbit and 
upon its axis is such that the delay of a single minute 
would cause it to land nearly twelve hundred miles 
distant from its destined locality. A miscalculation 
of a very few minutes would send this ponderous pro- 
phetic Jerusalem, with all its foundations, its walls 
and costly gates, together with our modern Christian's 
hopes, whirling through the realms of space, to bring 
up where chance might direct it; for the earth would 
be many thousand miles away, pursuing its regular 
journey. 

If the earth moves onward in its orbit, in accordance 
with eternal laws, it is by no means possible that those 
laws should be suspended, although a John might have 
predicted so important an arrival from some far distant 
and unknown realm. Again, if a four square inclosure 
or pen of such a description is needed here upon our 
earth, for the delectation of the few who shall be 
counted worthy to obtain admittance, why not build 
it from the jaspar and emeralds and other precious 
stones found upon this globe? Why run the hazard 
of launching the institution, and making a safe landing, 
while everything is moving with such terrible volocity? 



THE SPIRIT ABODES. 405 

We are told that the Christian's God spent over live 
days of hard labor in the construction of this world, 
and scarcely time enough to wink his eye upon all the 
rest. Why, then, should any of the distant worlds 
contain auy better material from which to manufacture 
a heaven than can be found upon this one, which 
received so large a share of His attention, and upon 
which was devoted so much infinite genius and skill. 

We are led to believe that a gross deception has 
been practiced upon the too credulous Christian world 
concerning this enormous box of the revelator, for 
there never was, and never will be, the least necessity 
of importing any of the material from which it is to 
be constructed from a distance. The precious stones 
introduced into its walls, its foundations and gates, 
and in fact from which the whole concern is to be 
built, are mostly composed of silica, alumina and some 
of the oxides, with perhaps a little coloring matter 
introduced; and we have a great sufficiency of such 
substances within the confines of our own earth to con- 
struct a thousand such New Jerusalem s, if they should 
be required. Thus far in our researches, then, we shall 
find it entirely unnecessary to go abroad in order to 
build ourselves a desirable heaven. 

But our mundane resources are not yet exhausted, 
when all the particles of atmosphere are inhabited, 
when the deep solitudes of all the mountains are occu- 
pied by the infinite hosts, when all the crystal sands 
of the vast deserts are peopled with their multitudes, 
we then have the globules of water covering nearly 
three-fourths of the entire surface of this globe. What, 
then, are these globules? They are said to be com- 



406 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

posed of oxygen, hydrogen and electricity — elements 
as much grosser than those which enter into the com- 
position of spiritual organizations as the various rocks 
and alluvial deposits of the earth are grosser than our 
physical bodies. Thus these fluid globules may each 
one become a most admirable spirit habitation, in 
which may be contained all that is not only grand and 
sublime, but beautiful beyond any of our powers of 
description, when beheld by spirit vision and appre- 
ciated by spirit perceptions. 

We trust a careful perusal of the preceding pages 
will make this matter obvious, without entering into 
any further explanations concerning spiritual lenses, 
only to remark that they contain within themselves 
all the complicated powers of our lenses. Our magni- 
fying glasses may be so arranged as to enlarge the 
object when beheld through one end, and diminish it 
proportionally by reversing the instrument. Spiritual 
lenses are thus arranged to suit their own convenience 
in every possible manner; they magnify the atom, 
while they may behold themselves the very reverse, 
and thus they behold the infinitesimal particle swelled 
to the dimensions of a globe, while their own persons 
are by no means enlarged. The reader will have 
learned long ere this that size and distance are only 
absolute to the condition in which they are beheld; 
hence, we can form no proper idea concerning either 
in any other state by the use of our physical organs, as 
they simply determine these properties of matter for 
the one condition, and no other. 

"We know that the microscope reveals to our vision 
animalculas far beyond the reach of the unaided eye; 



THE SPIRIT ABODES. 407 

but we cannot say that the microscope determines the 
size of the living form which it reveals, for its appar- 
ent size depends entirely upon the power of the instru- 
ment. Then it is clear that the size is only relative 
to the vision through which it is beheld — that it 
depends entirely upon the magnifying power of the 
lenses brought to bear. If so, it requires no great 
stretch of the imagination to discover that a globule 
of water, a particle of atmosphere, or a grain of sand, 
might, by lenses of sufficient power, be expanded to 
the size of a planet. 

This being a simple philosophical fact in nature, we 
trust that it will in the mind of the reader obviate all 
necessity of importing new or old Jerusalems from the 
far off heavens; for we may find ample accommoda- 
tions, without resorting to such a ridiculous and 
hazardous experiment, for all the spiritual beings who 
may be unfolded for many millions of ages to come. 
We trust that it will also be understood that there 
will be little necessity of following our friends into the 
distant sideral heavens in order to procure a proper 
locality to construct a dwelling place for any character 
of spiritual intelligent beings, although we by no 
means conceive it impossible that such, when prepared, 
if they desired might wander even to the furthest 
verge of universal nature. But if they should, no 
better facilities could be found, nor any better material 
from which to construct spirit abodes, and all the 
necessary appertainings of any of the diversified con- 
ditions of spirit existence, than we have at home. 

We must remember, however, that it is not all 
enjoyment in the spiritual realms; all classes of per- 



408 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

sons live, and they all die, or lay down the physical, 
and so far are introduced into a spiritual state; some 
may be qualified to enjoy that condition, and some too 
gross and undeveloped to enjoy or appreciate anything 
of a spiritual character. It is not supposed that the 
dissolution of the physical form produces any elevat- 
ing effect upon its former occupant; this occurs simply 
of necessity, because, either from decay or accident, it 
can no longer remain a suitable residence for the spirit 
and a removal is compulsory. The house falls to 
pieces, and the tenant must vacate the premises 
regardless of any preparation for future enjoyment 
in the new sphere of existence into which he may 
be, perhaps, suddenly ushered. If the spirit is gross, 
dark, earthy, and so to speak, unspiritualized, it must 
of course remain so until means are provided for its 
illumination and unfoldment, and it may be aroused 
to a realization of the actualities of this new phase of 
conscious existence, the processes of unfoldment being 
as natural and as much in accordance with immutable 
law in that sphere as in this. 

Yery many persons remain for a long period in an 
unconscious or comitose state, and among this class 
may be found those religionists who were very devout 
and enthusiastic, and fully believed in the resurrection 
of the body, or that they should at once be received 
in the arms of a loving Jesus. Not finding Jesus, 
they may go to sleep again and wait for his arrival, or 
they may sleep on, expecting in their few waking 
moments they will be, ere long, aroused by Gabriel's 
trump, and take their allotted place with the blood- 
washed throng at the right hand of their heavenly 



THE SPIKIT ABODES. 409 

Father, and thus they sleep on, perhaps, for many 
centuries. 

There seems to be a natural law connected with the 
development of the human intellect which permits 
individuals to realize the semblance and what to them 
is the actuality of their superstitious beliefs for the 
time being. Perhaps this may be the best method 
of instruction, as it gives them an experience which 
corresponds to their particular dogmatic creeds, and 
then they are enabled to learn precisely how that 
arrangement would operate when practically carried 
out. As they could not experience this cardinal doc- 
trine, which is indorsed by so large a number, of a 
resurrection and a judgment seat without a somewhat 
lengthy repose, they are permitted to rest or sleep 
in order to enjoy the luxury of this much-vaunted 
resurrection to life, and they go to the judgment in 
accordance with their long cherished expectations, 
and usually retire, amid shame and confusion, in 
consequence of their short comings; for upon inquiry 
it is ascertained that no person in earth-life has 
squared their daily conduct by that law or those 
commands and precepts which were enunciated by 
Jesus Christ, whom these persons profess to adore 
and worship as a universal law-giver equal with the 
Supreme Jehovah. It seems to be a rule of court at 
the judgment seats before which this class of persons 
are summoned, that each one is tried by the statute 
he has adopted for his own observance, and he must 
stand or fall by that; and this would certainly appear 
to be a very equitable as well as favorable arrange- 
ment for the party who is put upon his trial. If he 



410 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

is tried by the doctrines and precepts lie has chosen 
as a rule of faith and practice for himself, and if he 
chooses to promulgate them for the observance of 
others, and he is found guilty of their utter disregard, 
and has violated their plainest behests in almost every 
instance, he certainly can find no fault if he suffers 
the full penalty of their transgression. 

It would seem to be a great misfortune to become 
an enthusiastic religionist of any description, in con- 
sequence of the great difficulty of divesting the mind 
of well-settled and long-cherished religious opinions, 
whether they are Pagan, Mohammedan or Christian. 
We cannot say that, abstractly considered, one of these 
forms prepares the individual for a happy entrance 
and pleasant position in the spiritual spheres any 
better than the others. They are all, together with 
all others which have been adopted by the denizens 
of earth, alike factitious; all have been established by 
men in different ages of the world ; none of them can 
claim any divine origin, for none of them can be found 
inscribed on the sacred pages of that great volume 
whose language is the same not only during all ages 
and in all climes, but throughout universal worlds. 
If we can find a religion which might, with propriety, 
be adopted by all the inhabitants of our solar system — 
one that is adapted to the wants and might satisfy the 
aspirations of the incomputable numbers of intelligent 
beings who people the untold millions of suns scat- 
tered throughout the starry heavens — a religion so 
general and yet so comprehensive in its character as 
to be of such universal application, I think would 



THE SPIRIT ABODES. 411 

stand the test in these higher courts — but any thing 
short of that, doubtless, would be found wanting. 

Nothing short of universal truth can endow the 
mind with universal knowledge; then, if religion is 
necessary to carry the individual to the highest pos- 
sible attainments, it must of course be a religion 
broad as the universe, and one that must finally be 
adopted by all the inhabitants of all worlds; and to 
accomplish this for Christianity, Jesus — the Alpha 
and Omega of that religion — must necessarily live 
and offer himself a sacrifice upon all other worlds as 
well as this. Such a state of things, we apprehend, 
has never been even contemplated by his most devout 
followers, for in point of fact the whole great fabric is 
at present a somewhat limited affair upon this dimin- 
utive planet. Surely if this system of religion contains 
nothing but unadulterated truth of an absolute nature, 
then it must be of universal application, and just as 
important to the inhabitants of Jupiter, or any and all 
the fixed stars, as those of the earth, and hence Jesus 
must die on all of them as well as here. In order to 
live and die on each, he must necessarily visit them 
and travel from one to the other, and tarry perhaps 
thirty-three years, as he did with us. If we take into 
consideration the inconceivable distances which sep- 
arate this infinitude of heavenly bodies, together with 
their incomputable number, and the length of time 
required to travel from one to another, even with the 
velocity of light, we shall readily ascertain that no 
such system can be made of universal application, 
and if not it can be of no value. When we realize 
the simple self-evident proposition that all truths 



4:12 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

which are a part of nature must be true to the utmost 
limits of the universe, where similar conditions may 
be found, we shall discover the utter insignificance of 
this or any of the numerous religions which are thus 
circumscribed in their most extended operations to 
such exceedingly narrow limits. 

From a careful survey of this whole matter, we are 
forced to the conclusion that it is not religion that the 
individual requires to unfold his soul-nature and pre- 
pare it for a favorable reception in the spirit-homes, 
but it is knowledge, simple practical knowledge, which 
comes alone by personal experience and observation, 
and a certain amount of which is sure to come to every 
child of earth who occupies a physial form. 

Among the numerous inquiries which arise in the 
human mind concerning the spiritual abodes, is one 
intimately connected with our own personal identity. 
How much of our individual selves, and what portion 
of them, become inhabitants of the spiritual spheres? 
Are we to have a real, tangible, objective, conscious 
existence; and if so, how much of our present per- 
sonality will it require to constitute such existence? 
It seems quite impossible that we should carry any- 
thing of the physical organism with us, as all the 
elements which composed that seem at once disposed 
to dissolve their partnership relation, and we say it 
decays, as these gross particles go about their business 
and seek to affinitize with some other forms where 
they may find a genial home, and the human mind is 
unable to conceive any possible method by which these 
billions of entities can ever be brought together again 
in the same form. The law of evolution entirely for- 



THE SPIRIT ABODES. 413 

bids any such arrangement as eacli one of these entities 
will utterly refuse to assume the same relation to all 
the others, or to enter into an experience which would 
be precisely the same as one already passed through; 
each one must take a step forward, attain to a higher 
p'osition and a newer field of operations. 

So it will readily be perceived that nature has made 
no provisions for a resurrection of the same identical 
bodies, for the living beings of which the bodies are 
composed manifest no disposition to remain intact or 
lie still long enough to be resurrected; and again they 
have a great deal of business of their own on hand 
that requires almost immediate attention; they have 
an eternity of unfoldment before them, the same as 
ourselves. We get up and walk off whichever way 
we are attracted, and they do the same. 

Notwithstanding there is not the least probability 
of uniting with the physical body again in any sense 
of the word, yet it is evident that the entire spiritual 
selfhood, with all its appertainings, will be required 
to constitute a real, tangible, spiritual existence. If any 
portion of our spiritual organizations are obliterated 
in spirit-life, then we shall certainly be only a part of 
ourselves, and we might experience some difficulty in 
ascertaining our real personality. This would also 
show that some portion of our spiritual organizations 
were only elaborated for temporary purposes; that 
some things which have required all the energies of 
nature to produce, may very easily be lost, or changed 
into nothing. This idea being entirely inadmissible, 
we cannot accept it, and therefore all that belongs in 
any manner to the spirit-individuality, must, of neces- 



414 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

sity, be retained; else, this being would be entirely 
unable to perform all the proper functions necessarily 
attached to a spiritual condition. Can we suppose the 
spiritual realms to be less complex in their character 
than those we now occupy? Far from it; but. on the 
contrary, they are entirely superior to the physical, 
and hence must be more complicated. Then we may 
reasonably expect that the spirit-personality, in order 
to be adapted to such an existence, must become 
somewhat more complex also. 

In our previous researches into the nature and 
progressive unfoldment of the spiritual organism, 
we have discovered that the different faculties con- 
nected with the intellect or soul, had been gathered 
or accumulated during the spirit's residence in the 
various physical forms. We learned that the basic 
or lower organs were unfolded low down in the scale 
of animal life, and that each separate organ was 
wakened or brought into activity in some particular 
condition, or in that physical organism precisely 
adapted to its development. It has evidently been 
absolutely necessary that the spirit-personality should 
pass through all these interminable material forms, in 
order that all the various organs might be properly 
unfolded. It is also evident that each one has been 
unfolded in a particular sphere, which is the only 
possible condition where such organ can be aroused 
to activity. 

Then it becomes an indisputable fact, that we must 
have passed through as many spheres as we possess 
distinct organs, or mental faculties, which are attached 
to and form a part and parcel of the intellectual per- 



THE SPIRIT ABODES. 415 

sonality. As the spirit passes along up the ladder 
of progressive unfoldment, step by step, it evidently 
requires a superior organism to occupy a higher phys- 
ical form than it did to occupy a lower. And we 
shall doubtless find the only way we can advance the 
6pirit-being to a superior state is, to bring out and 
unfold an additional organ or faculty. 

I am entirely unable to say, and I think the most 
competent phrenologist, he who has made this subject 
a life-long study, will fail to inform us, precisely how 
many distinct organs or faculties there may be un- 
folded in a human organism when properly ultimated. 
One great fact, however, becomes self-evident — it 
requires them all to constitute a properly formed 
intellectual or spiritual personality in this condition 
of earth-life. Another prominent fact seems to stare 
us in the face; which is, the continued presence of 
organs of a similar character scattered all along down 
through the gradations of animal existence, until they 
lose themselves or become obscured in the realms of 
the infinitesimal. These organs are evidently identi- 
cally the same in the lower forms as in the human, 
but in these earlier individual beings they are less in 
number and more basic in their character, but pre- 
cisely adapted to that condition of animal life in which 
these personalities appear. Then we may go down, 
step by step, the gradations of individual existence, 
finding less and less organs attached to their beings 
until the animal is lost in the vegetable, the vegetable 
in the mineral and the mineral in the great elemental 
ocean of cold dead atoms. 

There certainly is very great beauty and harmony 



416 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

in such a view of this very important department of 
the natural universe, and it appears to throw a flood 
of light upon many mysterious problems connected 
with our own personal existence. And it would seem 
quite possible that these easy gradations through 
which the spiritual being necessarily comes up, taking 
on or unfolding organs as they are required, might 
illuminate the mind to a certain extent in regard to 
further experiences in the spiritual abodes. 

Doubtless in our extended journey through all the 
various physical forms below us, we have been from 
time to time unfolding organs, but we have left none 
behind us; we have brought them all into this human 
organization, and we find that all are necessary for 
use in enabling us to enter into the varied activities 
connected with this life. Man has no capabilities 
aside from his organs or faculties of mind, and as man 
possesses more capabilities than can be found in any 
condition below, he evidently must be endowed with 
those which are not unfolded except in the human. It 
is quite possible that one very important portion of 
our business in this life is to unfold another and 
higher organ, prejoaratory to entering upon a superior, 
more spiritualized sphere of activities. If we have 
found this to be necessary during all our varied expe- 
riences in the past, that we could not have passed 
through the process of unfoldment without taking 
on a succession of new faculties, why shall we not 
find the same state of affairs to continue during our 
future history? If this has been the only mode by 
which the spirit could be sufficiently unfolded to enter 
the human organism, and we find the spirit has great 



THE SPIRIT ABODES. 417 

room for further unfoldment, why shall not this same 
mode be adopted in the future? 

We very clearly see the absolute necessity of a larger 
number of faculties, and those of a higher order, if we 
still march up the ladder of progress ; because we find 
very extensive departments in nature we cannot explore 
for the want of the needed powers of intellect. Then 
it becomes evident that instead of laying down any of 
the organs we now hold in our possession, we shall 
find ourselves provided with another one, higher in 
character than any we now have, when we enter upon 
the active scenes of the next sphere. 

There cannot be a doubt but the room is entirely 
sufficient in the various spiritual spheres for the exer- 
cise of intellectual powers such as we have never 
dreamed of in the broadest extent of our philosophy. 
There can be no other mode of expanding and unfold- 
ing the intellect higher and still higher but by the 
accumulation or addition of new and more exalted 
organs, such as shall be adapted to all the possible 
conditions in which the most elevated spiritual being 
can be placed. By this method of progressive evolu- 
tion we can see no limit to the intellectual faculties 
and powers which may be obtained by a spirit person- 
ality. If such a being cannot become infinite, his 
capabilities may at some period extend entirely beyond 
our feeble comprehensions; so much so, indeed, that it 
would be quite impossible for us to understand in the 
least degree the true nature of his wisdom and power. 
But, as we have lain down no organ which has been 
unfolded in conditions below ourselves, all being 
required to fit us for this, so we can never, in all our 
27 



418 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

future accumulation of faculties, part with a single one 
that we have received, even while in the lowest physical 
form. All have been essential thus far, and all will be 
essential in an}' and every possible phase of existence 
we may pass through during the eternal ages of our 
future more spiritualized existence. 

If the intellectual individuality requires in its 
unfoldment this successive accumulation of powers, in 
order to prepare itself for the various phases of living 
existence it is ushered into during its progressive 
history, then there must be some particular manner in 
which these additions are made. Nature must provide 
a means by which she can accomplish this wonderful 
feat of supplying the intellect with an additional organ 
or faculty. 

In connection with this matter we learn that the 
higher forms possess more organs than a lower, that a 
death and a birth must have occurred between each of 
these different conditions; and we may reasonably 
conclude that these two facts, which must have trans- 
pired in order that the spirit might step from one 
6tate to another, have been absolutely essential in the 
production of the new organ. In fact, then, we may 
take it for granted that there is no other mode by 
which we can obtain this enlargement of the soul or 
intellectual powers, or an additional faculty, except by 
dying and being born again. Then, " Marvel not that 
I saj^ unto you, ye must be born again; " that ye must 
be born into the spiritual sphere above you, in the 
same maimer that you have been born into this you 
now occupy. 

If it has been necessary every time previous to this 



4 
THE SPIEIT ABODES. 419 

to have been born into a new outer organism, in order 
to obtain a new organ or faculty, why shall not this be 
the mode pursued in conditions entirely superior to 
the present? Man, as he exists here, is certainly a 
triune being; he is possessed of a three-fold nature — 
the outer, the inner, and the innermost. He has a 
physical body, a spiritual body, and an intellectual 
soul, which is capable of grasping a thought or of 
reasoning and solving difficult problems. When he 
came into this state, he or the spiritual body entered 
into the physical, which was prepared for its residence 
during his earthly career. His earthly parents did not 
beget the spiritual man, they only begat the physical 
tenement, in which the spirit was to reside. The 
reproductive energies in nature only extend to the 
outermost; they can only reproduce a physical organ- 
ism; the spirit having existed from all eternity, cannot 
proceed from any such source. This spirit occupying 
the form of the child, must have entered into innu- 
merable physical organisms previously, in order to 
prepare itself for the tenement it now inhabits. This 
birth into these earthly organisms we perceive has been 
absolutely necessary, that the spirit might be enabled 
to pursue its activities during its sojourn in these 
various stages of its upward career; not only so, but 
that it might have the opportunity to unfold the new 
organ whenever it was required. It will appear very 
evident to the careful thinker that thus far the normal 
condition for the spirit has been in an outward organ- 
ism during those periods while it was a triune instead 
of a dual being. 

When the spirit personality lays down the physical 



420 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

form, it certainly becomes a dual instead of a triune 
being, or it passes out of its normal condition into one 
decidedly abnormal; and although it may exist in 
such a state, yet, as far as our perceptions extend, all 
of its previous active periods of unfoldment have been 
confined to the normal or triune state, or those seasons 
when it occupied an outward form. 

Then we are forced to the very natural conclusion 
that the spirit must again assume this trinity and pass 
out of its dualty before it can enter upon the real 
normal activities of the new sphere of which it has 
become an inhabitant. It must enter once more an 
outward organism more gross than the spiritual body 
which remained after it left the physical of this earth 
plane, before it will attain its normal condition and be 
prepared to engage in the more important duties of 
its new home. 

"We are fully persuaded that no person upon our 
earth who still occupies a physical body can fully com- 
prehend, much less accurately describe, the true nature 
of the spirit abodes in all their particulars. But still 
we seem to have a key in our possession which serves 
to a very great extent to unlock this mighty problem, 
and which divests the whole subject of the immense 
clouds of mystery with which it has been heretofore 
overshadowed. We have learned that our spirit per- 
sonalities, with all their appertaining^, with every 
organ. and faculty complete, endowed with the five 
senses of seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling, 
is precisely what must be provided with a home in the 
spiritual realms. And w T e now discover that these 
abodes must be adapted to the nature of the spirit. 



THE SPIRIT ABODES. 421 

This world has evidently been in consonance with the 
peculiar nature of man in this state; it was provided 
that man might have a suitable home, in which his 
numerous wants could be supplied. This world was 
brought into existence for the grand purpose of ulti- 
mating man's spirit up to the highest possible condi- 
tion attainable in physical organisms; the earth was 
formed for the use and convenience of man, and not 
man for the earth. If, then, every condition below 
the spiritual abodes through which the spirit individual 
has passed in its unfoldment has been exactly adapted 
to the nature and wants of the spirit, most assuredly 
the next, or more spiritualized, will be equally con- 
formable to his peculiar nature, and to the supply of 
its daily wants. Hence, we may expect to find the 
spirit abodes as natural as those we now occupy; and 
they must contain ample room and facilities for the 
fullest exercise of every power and faculty with which 
the human spirit is naturally endowed, as much and 
far more so than our present sphere of existence. 

All our aspirations for future enjoyment have arisen 
in the peculiar spiritual organization we now possess; 
if we can ever enter into a realization of the highest 
aspiration which can now originate within us, the con- 
dition in which it is realized must be perfectly anala- 
gous to this. Now, shall all the organs, faculties and 
powers which constitute an intellectual spirit in the 
superior abodes remain utterly useless through all 
eternity, or shall they be brought into active exercise, 
the same as they have been in all conditions below? 

As the spirit personality is entirely incapable of 
realizing any experience of enjoyment or suffering, 



422 THE GOSPEL OF NATTTEE. 

except through these organs or powers, they must 
necessarily engage in all the activities connected with 
that sphere, the same as they have in past conditions. 
If, then, we find ourselves supplied with combativeness 
and destructiveness, what can we do with them? We 
must certainly use these faculties in an analagous 
manner — fight and overcome those things we find 
opposed to our highest ideal of what is proper, remove 
obstacles out of the way which would seem to hinder 
the realization of our highest wishes. Can we suppose 
the next sphere to be less complex than this? It cer- 
tainly must be far more so. Then we may reasonably 
expect more antagonisms instead of less; greater 
necessity for the fighting group of organs instead of 
none at all. We have ascertained that discord and 
conflicts are incorporated in the very soul essence of 
all things; how, then, can we escape them in the 
spheres just above? 

As long as the spirit or intellect is passing through 
processes of unfoldment, just so long will he require 
to bring into active exercise every organ that has been 
unfolded within him, and so long will he find obstacles 
and impediments in his pathway which will need the 
activities of the propelling powers to overcome. It 
is not claimed that we can comprehend all the minutia 
of spirit-existence, yet we surely have in our possess- 
ion a large amount of data, or existing facts, from 
which we may arrive at very intelligent conclusions 
aside from all the fund of information we are obtain- 
ing from those shores. We may very readily ascertain 
the traits of character, habits, manners, customs, dis- 
positions and general aspirations of men and women 



THE SPIRIT ABODES. 423 

everywhere around us. These are the very persons, 
together with an inconceivable host organized upon 
the same principles, that constitute the inhabitants of 
the spiritual abodes. "We have learned exactly what 
those people have done in the earth-form — may we 
not arrive at some reasonable conclusion as regards 
what they would naturally do in the next sphere? If 
we have formed associations and governments for the 
the benefit and protection of the people in this sphere, 
shall we not, with precisely the same organisms, be 
very likely to do the same thing in the one beyond? 
The Christian teachers recognize a government in the 
spirit abodes, but it is one of the most tyrannical 
character — a government where the supreme author- 
ity is vested in a single individual, who rules, as it 
were, with a rod of iron. He demands the most ser- 
vile homage continually from his few favorites, and 
curses the balance with his direst wrath, consigning 
them to fierce torments of endless duration. In the 
best estate, the subjects of this ruler are but abject 
slaves, and in the lower, scorched and suffocating with 
fumes of burning brimstone. 

This is the highest ideal of a government in the 
spiritual realms entertained by the great host of 
religious zealots, who claim to be the salt of the 
earth, and confidently assert that but for them the 
world to-day would have no civilization; yet a cur- 
sory glance at this matter will satisfy the inquirer 
that the civilization of to-day is rapidly emancipating 
our best minds from such abominable doctrines, and 
replacing in their stead something more in accordance 
with plain common sense. Such sentiments origin- 



424 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

ated when tyrannical governments were the order of 
the day, and before any extended ideas of the equality 
of human rights had been recognized by earth's inhab- 
itants. The marvel is that to-day, where democratic 
ideas are entirely in the ascendancy, these very pious 
people can consent to take stock in a heaven where all 
the people are to be in eternal bondage, and where the 
chief business must be to bow down and offer to one, 
two or three individuals eternal homage and adoration 
without the remotest prospect of ever receiving any- 
thing approximating to similar honors themselves. 

But this crude idea of a government in the spirit 
spheres may be considered as an evidence that some 
kind of institutions of this character do actually exist, 
and that most probably they are as varied in their 
forms, and perhaps much more so, than those of the 
earth, for, we may remember that our material realm 
is exceedingly limited compared with the spiritual; 
and further, that we should have no ideas whatever of 
governments or anything else, unless we had received 
them from those who inhabit the higher spheres. 

We may remember that all the unruly elements that 
constitute the slums of our cities, and the turbulent 
population every where, who are so organized and 
uncultured that restraining influences are absolutely 
essential, go directly into these spirit abodes, and if 
it requires police regulations, common councils and 
all the machinery of governmental institutions to hold 
these persons in check here, why will it not in the 
sphere just beyond? They are the same individuals 
who made the trouble here, and it is not known that 
the change from the material form has any effect or 



THE SPIEIT ABODES. 425 

influence in improving their morals or elevating their 
soul natures — all this is done by active living expe- 
riences, not by dying; so that governments are not 
only a necessity, but a natural result, where large 
numbers of intelligent beings find themselves existing 
in close proximity. Whatever they have done about 
this matter in earth-life, that they will do when left to 
themselves in the spirit abodes, and there is no good 
reason to suppose there is not quite as much freedom 
and independence of thought and action as here, for 
where all have equal rights, who should assume to 
control, and who for any length of time would submit 
to control unless it is for the common weal? 

Again, there must be a much greater variety of 
states and conditions than can be found in earth-life, 
and as we have nothing here we do not find "over 
there " in greater perfection, there must necessarily 
be all the official positions, and each one must be 
occupied by some individual. There must be kings 
and princes, presidents and governors, judges and 
lawyers, generals and captains, and every grade of 
civil and military distinction that has ever occurred 
in earth, and perhaps a thousand times more, for the 
denizens of spirit-life have far more time and much 
greater facilities for carrying out their arrangements 
and gratifying their peculiar tastes. 

It is more than probable that large numbers of per- 
sons will not only doubt but entirely ignore these 
statements, as being frivolous and coming very far 
short of their exalted ideas of spirit existence; but 
this class will please remember that they are only 
men and women who inhabit these abodes, and most 



426 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

of them very simple, uncultured persons at that. 
They certainly cannot appreciate any enjoyments, 
unless commensurate with their capabilities, or that 
is not compatible with their tastes and aspirations. 
We must be aware that untold millions die who have 
never been elected to the office of constable, or who 
have ever enjoyed the least political promotion, 
although their most ardent desires have been in that 
direction. That or some other official position has 
been the highest aspiration of their inmost souls, 
and they have left earth-life without partaking of any 
such enjoyment. 

If we look at this matter candidly, we must admit 
that it would be a poor apology for a universe that 
did not afford machinery or make provisions whereby 
every one who desires may at some time enjoy the 
luxury of being elected a justice of the peace. That 
is the very thing they desire more than any thing 
else at the time, it is the extent of their ambition. 
They have the requisite organs properly developed — 
they are admirably qualified, and they feel that this 
position would be a stepping-stone to something 
higher just as naturally as they -would have such 
an experience in the material form. 

If this is a fact, then it occurs through all the mul- 
titudinous ramifications of living existence in those 
realms wherever sentient beings may be found endowed 
with organs or mental faculties such as are vouchsafed 
to the human race. Perhaps I cannot sufficiently im- 
press the idea upon the mind of the reader that these 
are merely human beings who cannot partake of any 
character of enjoyments incompatible with their nat- 



THE SPIRIT ABODES. 427 

ural endowments, that every species of pleasure must 
reach the inner selfhood through the appropriate 
organ, and the peculiar character of their gratifica- 
tions depends entirely upon the growth or unfoldraent 
of the faculties which constitute that inner selfhood. 

This part of the subject will be elaborated to a 
greater extent in the final chapter, which contains the 
personal spirit history of a number of individuals. 
It will be seen that a narration of these individual 
living experiences in the spiritual abodes convey to 
the human mind the realities or peculiarities of that 
condition of conscious existence in a clearer light than 
by any other method we can introduce. 

Most, assuredly, if intelligent beings survive the 
ravages of death and enjoy life and activity beyond 
the tomb, that life, to be worth any thing, must fur- 
nish them with experiences; and as we are compelled 
to conclude by evidences presented, with the requisite 
facilities for relating the incidents of that experience 
to their friends both in and out of the phyiscal form. 



CHAPTEK X. 

SPIRIT BIOGRAPHY. 

AN AFRICAN SLA YE. 

Strange to say, modern Christianity has not only 
tolerated, but advocated for a long series of years that 
cursed institution known as African slavery, with all 
its attendant evils — an institution which was baptized 
in blood, and which has ever been attended by the 
groans and sufferings of vast numbers of human beings, 
who possessed inherently the same rights to life, 
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as their Christian 
task masters.' 

I listened with great interest to t the honest but 
heart-rending narrative of one of these sable sons of 
Afric's soil, who had for a long period been a partici- 
pator in the enjoyments of the spiritual abodes. He 
spoke with remarkable fluency through the media's 
organism, and displayed a very deep sense of the 
wrongs which had been inflicted upon him by a people 
who boasted of a knowledge of the Christian's bible, 
and paraded ostentatiously the advantages of a Chris- 
tian's faith; and he exultingly gloried in the fact that 
the benignant angel of death had finally released him 
from the tortures he had received from those who had 
been educated in a Christian's country. 

He relates that he awoke to earth consciousness 
amid the sunny vales of his own native land, where a 

(428) 



SPIKIT BIOGKAPHT. 429 

tropical clime produced an exuberance of all that was 
required for the sustenance of life; and that he was 
surrounded by all that was to him in his condition 
beautiful and to be desired. His loves had been 
fostered, his attachments formed, and his hopes germi- 
nated; and he looked forward, with anticipations as 
blessed as his nature could make them, to an auspicious 
and happy career in his own fatherland. But in an 
unfortunate hour he was overcome by his enemies, 
bound, and dragged from all that his youthful heart 
had learned to cherish as near and dear, and the scenes 
of his happier childhood closed upon his vision forever. 

He says, "Though an uncultivated African, I" 
endured all the anguish of soul, all the intensity of 
suffering at being torn from every object for which I 
had nurtured all the affections of nature, that could be 
endured by those who had been reared in more civilized 
countries. I was speedily rushed on board a slave 
ship, where we were so closely packed by the cupidity 
and avarice of our Christian tormentors, that during 
our long and wearisome voyage no language can depict 
the tortures we endured. Those who had not sufficient 
physical strength fell quietly into the embrace of the 
death angel, and neither tongue or pen can describe 
the anxiety and yearning I felt to be one of that happy 
number; but I was destined to survive the fearful 
voyage — to be brought to the auction block, and 
exposed for sale, under the auspices of a Christian 
government. 

" I observed among those who had assembled for the 
purpose of purchasing this human commodity, a man 
with a benign countenance, and something whispered 



430 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

that he would be a kind master; and I earnestly 
prayed that he might become my purchaser, which 
happily proved to be the result. While with him I 
suffered no terrible hardships, except continual bondage 
and unrequited labor. I was kindly permitted to marry 
one I sincerely loved, and with whom I lived with 
much satisfaction until she had borne three children, 
as pledges of our mutual affections. But no language 
can describe the fearful anguish I subsequently experi- 
enced for this cause. The thought that I had con- 
sented, for my own personal gratification, to use means 
that would bring human beings into a condition of 
slavery, has at times brought an agony of soul upon 
me that seemed insupportable. 

" I could have endured the loss of freedom and this 
curse of a life-long bondage for the sake of my wife 
and children;, but the time came when my master was 
taken from the earth, and we were taken with the other 
such like movable property to the auction block, to be 
disposed of, soul and body, to the highest bidder. 
This time I saw among the number who came to pur- 
chase, a man who impressed me most unfavorably, and, 
as I somewhat expected, I fell into his hands; and I 
earnestly besought and prayed that he would also buy 
my wife and children. But such could not be; we 
were all separated, so that no further intercourse could 
be maintained. 

" With this man, or fiend in human form, I experi- 
enced all the agonizing tortures of slavery; and driven 
to desperation, in consequence of our abject condition, 
as well as the loss of wife and children, I, with the aid 
of the other slaves, planned an escape, which we might 



SPIRIT BIOGRAPHY. 431 

have carried into effect but for our betrayal by one of 
the number. I was then taken, as the instigator and 
ringleader of this plot, and subjected to the most 
terrible flagellations that ever any human being could 
have suffered and still retained life; but being naturally 
strong, I survived. I was whipped till the blood flew 
in every direction at the oft repeated strokes, and until 
I was lacerated to the bones; and then, after an appli- 
cation of brine, or liquid fire, as it appeared to me, was 
left until the wounds had partially recovered, and were 
particularly sensitive, when the same process of 
scourging and brining was again repeated, until the 
terrible malignant wrath of this human fiend was 
appeased^ and his dire revenge satiated. Can any one 
suppose that the angel of death would have been looked 
upon as an unwelcome messenger, or a cursed monster, 
had he appeared during any stage of these proceedings 
and taken me to his kind embraces? If any person 
ever imagined him to be a king of terrors, let him 
pass through my experiences, and he will behold him 
as he then appeared, and since has been realized by 
myself, to be a pure angel of light, clothed in bright- 
ness, and surrounded by a halo of unclouded glory. 

" As if to add to my sufferings, and increase my 
tortures both of body and mind, I learned, by mere 
accident, that my wife and children had fallen into the 
hands of masters equally cruel, and that they, too, had 
been exposed to similar sufferings. Nevertheless, I 
now resolved to yield to circumstances, and if possible 
obtain the good will of this tyrant Christian, and so 
far was successful, that after thirty years of servile 
bondage he at his death was induced to grant iny 



4<V2 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

freedom. I then labored hard, earning sufficient to 
buy my wife and two remaining children, and moved 
to the Eorth, when I found myself an old man, suffer- 
ing all the decrepitude induced by my life of toil and 
hardship in a state of servile bondage; but my great 
object was now attained, for which I had so long 
struggled almost in despair, and soon the death angel 
made his appearance. 

" Now, what is more strange than all my past his- 
tory of suffering, I, the poor African slave, who had 
supposed myself to be but one of the dregs of 
humanity, greatly inferior in every sense of the word 
to my white brother, found myself ushered, amid the 
waving of banners and the cheerful notes of musical 
bands, into scenes of life and light and beauty, whose 
magnificence and glory exceeds all my powers of 
description. I found myself as comfortable as those 
by whom I was surrounded, and that I was very soon 
capable of entering into their various enjoyments and 
of engaging in those pleasant exercises which afforded 
the highest gratification to the inmost soul; that my 
life of suffering and toil was passed, and that I was 
indebted to this angel of death for this happy change 
of condition, and for all the superior excellence of this 
enchanted realm, where one kind of enjoyment suc- 
ceeds another in rapid transition. Some of us who 
have passed the open portal and felt the embrace of 
the transcendantly beautiful angel, may well exclaim, 
in the joyousness of our hearts, ' O death, where is 
thy sting! O grave, where is thy victory! ' " 

The sting of death is ignorance of its true nature. 
When humanity shall have awakened to a knowledge 



SPIRIT BIOGRAPHY. 433 

of the science of death, and are able to comprehend its 
legitimate uses, its sting will have been plucked out, 
and all its terrors will have faded away. 

In whatever condition the human soul may be 
placed, one ray of hope still lingers, one consoling 
thought still remains to cheer the dark recesses of the 
saddest heart; for no sorrow can continue forever — 
the time of deliverance must come, and the gentle arm 
of this power will at some time bring the needed relief. 

THE SLAVE MASTER. 

There are great numbers who have been grossly 
unjust in their dealings with their fellow-men, who 
have enjoyed the avails of their labors without proper 
compensation — who have been slaveholders and hard 
task-masters, and treated their fellow-beings who 
were entitled to as much of this world's gifts as 
themselves with exceeding cruelty, inflicting great 
pain and suffering upon their persons, scourging 
and torturing them in a great variety of ways. 

We may permit one of this class who acknowl- 
edges himself to be the second purchaser of the noble 
African, whose history has been briefly sketched, to 
relate his own story, which he gave through the 
medium, "although he did not speak as fluently as 
his former slave. Perhaps the history of such indi- 
vidual experience would present a clearer view of this 
phase of spirit-life than any other mode of illustration 
which could be adopted in a treatise upon the subject. 

There can be little doubt that the scales of eternal 
justice are, and ever have been, suspended in the spir- 
28 



434 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

itual realms, and that, sooner or later, each individual 
must recompense to the last mill, all that he has 
obtained from his fellows unjustly, and that the same 
mete he has measured shall be measured back to him 
again, shaken down and pressed together. Eye for 
eye, tooth for tooth, stripe for stripe, burning for 
burning, is the doctrine that prevails, and must be 
dealt to each one without, any laxity or possibility of 
escape. Else, the poor, the down-trodden and the 
oppressed could have no hopes, for those who have 
the advantage would certainly retain it, unless the 
strictest even-handed justice is administered to every 
individual. This is our only safety, and upon this 
ever-living principle of justice alone do we depend 
for our equal share in 'those enjoyments that are 
amply sufficient for all when properly distributed. 
Then, exact justice must overtake us all, and the 
magistrate who sits upon his bench clothed with his 
ermine of authority, had better be extremely careful 
of his judgments, for if unjustly pronounced, such 
chickens will surely come home to roost. Clergy- 
men, and even popes, had better be chary of the 
anathemas they pronounce upon other men, for if 
they do it unadvisedly, those curses will surely rest 
upon their own heads. The fiery and zealous min- 
ister will certainly endure the damnation he deals 
out with such a bountiful hand; and the prelates and 
popes their own anathemas; because, they are the 
products of their own souls; and they cannot get rid 
of them until they have experienced their legitimate 
results. When they have attained the knowledge 
arising from this experience, they will furnish no 



SPIRIT BIOGRAPHY. 435 

more of such commodities for their fellow-men, 
because their own natures will become purified. 
The tyrant slave master will also by an experience 
of the scourgings he has inflicted upon those whom 
circumstances placed under his control, learn the true 
nature of that tyranny and cruelty he has exhibited 
toward his fellows; and when he himself suffers all 
the agony of body and mind he has caused others to 
endure, he will learn something about the equality of 
human rights, and lose all desire to enslave those who 
are entitled to an equal share of all that nature in 
her bounty has provided for the race. 

But, to return, the media remarked that a person 
quite dark in his appearance, seemed anxious to speak, 
whereupon he commenced by saying: "I was born 
and lived in South Carolina. I inherited from my 
father a large plantation, stocked with numerous 
slaves. I enjoyed all the pleasures that worldly afflu- 
ence could afford a mind in my condition of unfold- 
ment. I was the person who purchased the slave of 
whom you have already spoken. I refused to pur- 
chase his wife because I thought it would interfere 
with my designs. He was a noble, athletic fellow, 
of a fine, robust physical form; in fact, a splendid 
specimen of the African race, and I purchased him 
more particularly for the purpose of improving the 
slave stock upon my plantation ; and I apprehended 
that his wife would naturally be more or less in the 
way of that project. But in process of time I was 
informed that he had plotted the escape of my slaves, 
as well as my own destruction, and I caused him to 
be cruelly whipped, as already stated, until he was 



436 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

perfectly subdued; after which he won my entire 
confidence and remained faithful as long as I lived. 
When death was approaching, in order to partially 
atone for the many sins I had committed during my 
life, I liberated all the slaves I could spare, only 
reserving sufficient to cancel my indebtedness, and 
this one was among the number who obtained their 
freedom. I suppose that I must have remained for 
a very long period after reaching these shores in a 
half conscious condition, as I have little recollection 
of what transpired, only I realized during this time 
the aw T ful agony of being torn in pieces by the most 
frightful wild animals, and yet I was not destroyed; 
I only resuscitated to endure the same torturing 
operation again and again. I was attacked by enor- 
mous serpents, and struggled, but struggled in vain 
to escape from their fearful coils. I seemed nerveless 
and powerless to resist their efforts, and endured the 
untold horror of being beslimed by the viscid mucus 
that exuded from their cavernous mouths. I was 
repeatedly swallowed in this manner, yet I could not 
die; I only seemed once more prepared to minister 
to the appetites of these dreadful monsters. After I 
had escaped from this species of torture, as if for a 
change, I endured the terrible process of gibbeting, 
where I was exposed not only to the scorching rays 
of the sun, but the fierce attacks of birds of prey 
and thus I remained until the flesh was seemingly 
plucked away from my bones; still I could not die, 
and my lost flesh w r ould apparently return. I was 
then taken down and severely whipped by my former 
slaves, who had received the same treatment from me 



SPIRIT BIOGRAPHY. 437 

in earth-life, and blow for blow, lash for lash, with 
the usual brining, have I received even to the utter- 
most stripe. But the parties who seemed to have a 
hand in inflicting this torture were not guilty of a 
wrong like myself; they were evidently employed to 
do this, that the imperious demands of justice might 
be satisfied. I have been placed upon a bench and 
had my toes severed or chopped off with an axe, and 
then a part of the feet, and then a little more, until 
my legs were all cut away, and then my hands and 
arms were severed in the same manner, until my body 
was left a shapeless mass, the brine being applied after 
every stroke of the axe to increase my torment." 

Upon being asked if he inflicted all these terribly 
frightful punishments upon his slaves, he replied he 
had, in order to excite the terror of the rest, and thus 
deter them from disobeying his commands. 

" I seemed during all this period, and for a great 
length of time, to be almost starved, suffering the 
continual pangs of hunger ihe country where I 
appeared to dwell being exceedingly sterile, and pro- 
ducing nothing but a little dwarfish kind of sorrel; 
and this was the only kind of sustenance that I could 
obtain. But finally justice was satisfied; I had paid 
fully all the pains and penalties which I had inflicted 
upon my fellow-men; my cup of endurance had been 
filled as deeply as I had caused it to be filled for oth- 
ers, and that was all that was required at my hands 
in this respect, and the angel of deliverance made his 
appearance and released me from all this unspeakable 
woe. And who should the benign and happy counte- 
nance of this angel reveal to my astoni hed gaze but 



438 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

my former slave, whom I had once scourged so bit- 
terly, and who had afterward served me so long and 
faithfully, receiving his freedom at my own death. 

" However, it need not be supposed that I passed 
from this condition into one of even tolerable happi- 
ness; I had only passed the ordeal of this terrible 
suffering which was my just and proper due; the 
scales had only been balanced in that one particular. 
The great load of debt I had contracted during my 
earth-life was still uncancelled; it still held good 
against me with accumulating interest, even to the 
uttermost mill, and the enormous obligation under 
which I had placed myself to numerous persons by 
appropriating the avails of their unrequited toil, I 
ascertained that I must discharge by my own indi- 
vidual exertions, in the best manner that I possibly 
could. I learned that this had been earned for me by 
hard unremitting labor; that I must earn the means 
to pay this debt in the same manner; and I found the 
country very poor; that labor demanded but a trifling 
remuneration, and the food provided for the laboring 
man was of an inferior character. I have been toil- 
ing on from that day to this and have scarcely made 
any impression upon my enormous load of debt. I 
think I have hardly paid the interest. But I have 
very thoroughly learned one important lesson, and 
obtained some valuable information concerning the 
subject of slavery. I think I have ascertained the 
fact that it is extremely unprofitable to own slaves 
and use the avails of their labor, and I could never 
be induced, under any circumstances, to enslave my 
fellow man again." 



SPIRIT BIOGRAPHY. 439 

Upon inquiry, he informed us that he was a liberal 
supporter, and I think an acceptable member of a 
Christian church, a full believer in the general doc- 
trines taught, and that he died in the full expectation 
of receiving salvation through the atoning merits of 
the blood of the Saviour Jesus Christ. But no 
Saviour Jesus had visited him since his advent into 
spirit-life, or any other, except his faithful slave. 

After relating his story he said he thought he would 
like to pray, and as he knew of no one except the 
God he was taught to believe in, and Jesus Christ, 
to whom he could address his prayer, although he 
had seen or heard nothing of them since his departure 
from the earth, still he thought he would pray to them 
for assistance. Accordingly he made a fervent peti- 
tion to these parties, and he seemed to be straightway 
much encouraged, and remarked that his condition 
and surroundings seemed suddenly to change for the 
better; he expressed himself with much more satis- 
faction concerning the appearance of the country. He 
said that he now learned he could find all the work he 
could do, and he thought at far better pay, and enter- 
tained some hope that in process of time he would be 
able to cancel all his obligations. We learned from 
this that it made little difference to whom he offered 
his petitions — that they were quite as effectual in 
bringing the needed relief when addressed to one 
party as another. There are numbers of advanced 
intelligent beings whose duty it is to watch over 
those who are struggling through the toils and suf- 
ferings and darkness incident to low conditions of 
development, and who are ready when the set time 



440 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

arrives to administer the needed relief; but they can- 
not bring that relief one moment before the proper 
period. The demands of imperative justice must 
first be satisfied; the individual salvation must be 
first worked out by the party himself, and then his 
petitions can be answered and will certainly receive 
attention, even if they were addressed to a devil 
instead of a God. 

If the benefits of a vicarious atonement could have 
been transferred to this individual, and his immense 
obligations to his fellows cancelled in that manner, 
the universal principles of justice would have been 
annulled; this presiding angel would have been hurled 
from her throne and the eternal scales destroyed. If 
those divine principles could not be effectually applied 
in this single case, then all governments would cease 
to exist, and all of nature would merge into chaotic 
anarchy and confusion, and those who possessed a 
preponderance of power might trample upon the 
rights of the weak with perfect impunity, the same 
as they have done in this rudimental sphere. 

The doctrines connected with the vicarious atone- 
ment are established and based upon the most damna- 
ble injustice; in this they found their only origin, and 
the administration of the glorious principles of even- 
handed justice is the very thing they seek to avoid. 
Where these sacred principles prevail, there can be no 
occasion for a vicarious atonement; for, if the impe- 
rious demands of justice are satisfied, nothing more 
can be required; and we may be assured that unless 
justice is dead, and banished from the universe of 
nature, her every demand will be executed upon each 



SPIRIT BIOGRAPHY. 441 

individual, even to the last dust in the balance. The 
vicarious atonement, then, is the greatest possible out- 
rage upon every principle of justice that humanity, 
in their diabolical avarice, have ever attempted to 
perpetrate. If its abominable provisions could be 
carried out, it would be the most consummate swin- 
dle that ever men or gods or devils have practiced 
since the first dawning of intelligence, or since the 
first semblance of a government was established in 
any portion of the universe. 

What ! continue a plan of salvation that would 
permit this arrogant, tyrannical slaveholder, who had 
outraged every principle of humanity, whose life had 
been one series of robberies and cruelty, to go unpun- 
ished, to escape the natural and legitimate results of 
his own wrongs, while the victims of his ruthless bar- 
barity might be consigned to never-ending torture? 
No arch fiend inhabiting the darkest portion of the 
lowest hell could devise a scheme more atrocious in 
its every feature, and one more fraught with injustice, 
or better calculated to rob a portion of humanity of 
their equitable rights. It is a sneak thief operation 
from its incipiency to its final consummation, origin- 
ating in the crude brains of a dark, uncultivated 
people, it has been eagerly adopted by those who 
had private interests to subserve, and has been the 
prolific cause of a very large portion of the cruelty, 
suffering and bloodshed that humanity have endured 
for nearly eighteen hundred years. 

We trust that the days of its continuance upon the 
earth are numbered, and that the beginning of the 
end is rapidly approaching. We entertain high hopes 



442 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

that the ever-living principles of divine justice will 
again resume their authority, and sway the destinies 
of the children of men, and that the inhabitants of 
the earth shall become the happy recipients of her 
beneficent and kindly favors. 

Every sentient being has capacities within which 
qualifies them to enjoy a certain amount of happi- 
ness; why should those powers be furnished, unless 
the corresponding happiness shall be enjoyed? Can 
any thing of that character be made in vain? The 
faculties of enjoyment would certainly be vain if this 
being was subjected to everlasting torment, and so 
would his capability of endurance be entirely without 
use, if he should know naught but perpetual happi- 
ness. Then there must be a proportion of suffering 
and enjoyment for each individual, perfectly adapted 
to his capabilities of enduring and enjoying, and 
nature has made no provisions that would enable one 
to rob another of his just and equitable share with 
impunity. There is entirely sufficient of both hap- 
piness and suffering to subserve the purposes for 
which they were designed, but there is none to waste, 
and if one individual obtains a preponderating amount 
of good things, he can only do so by robbing some one 
else. The parties so robbed, in the mean time, must 
be laboring under the experience of evil things, and 
justice demands that this inequality should be ad- 
justed, and that this robbery should be made good, 
by a complete restoration, and no reasonable being 
can find fault with this equitable arrangement. But 
the vicarious atonement contemplates no return; no 
restitution for robberies committed; it presupposes 



SPIRIT BIOGRAPHY. 443 

that an individual may pursue a career of murderous 
iniquity, that he may violate every principle of 
honesty, that he may sink into the lowest depths of 
depravity, and finally pay the penalty of his life-long 
criminalities upon the gallows, and swing from hence 
into the arms of Jesus, walk with him clothed in 
blood-washed robes into the pure celestial heavens 
and commence the song of praises to God and the 
Lamb forever. All that was necessary was belief, 
one of the cheapest commodities found in our world, 
and one enjoyed to the largest extent by the greatest 
fools, for as it was said, " God sent them strong delu- 
sion, that they might believe a lie, that they might 
all be damned." 

We do not conceive that this slave-master endured 
a greater amount of suffering in the aggregate than 
other persons, for this would have been a gross injus- 
tice. He was not born in Carolina by his own choice; 
he did not inherit a slave plantation by any previous 
arrangement of his own; but he was ushered into that 
condition without his own knowledge or consent. If 
he had happened to have had his birth in the New 
England States, and inherited a cotton factory instead 
of a plantation, he would most likely have never owned 
a slave or committed any of the atrocities of which he 
was guilty. Then, is he really entitled to more suffer- 
ing in the aggregate than his fellows? Does justice 
demand more from him than from the wealthy heir of 
a New Eu gland patrimony, or from any other individ- 
ual in the world? By no means; all came from the 
same grand source, and all are traveling on to a sim- 
ilar destination, and each one must endure a similar 



444 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

amount of suffering in working out their salvation, or 
else the administration of justice is but a delusive 
farce. But all do not travel the same road, and obtain 
their experience in the same manner; the fiercer the 
battle the sooner it is over. The terrible agonies 
endured by this slaveholder were concentrated into a 
short period of time; others may experience a similar 
amount, but spread over untold thousands of years, 
and their endurance be light and almost impercepti- 
ble compared to his. He had his kingdom in this 
world, and the slaves their bondage and suffering; 
they must have theirs in the next, while he endures 
his bondage and experiences his suffering. 

If each individual is developed to the highest possible 
condition that can be attained in this or any other 
sphere of existence, then it follows that each shall have 
equal capacities for the endurance of suffering, as well 
as for the enjoyment and appreciation of happiness; 
and it also follows, if the capacities are made equal, 
the endurance and enjoyment must likewise in some 
condition be made correspondingly equal. This 
becomes an absolute necessity, if our education is to 
be completed, as we cannot learn all unless we have a 
personal experience that will at least enable us to 
appreciate all possible conditions of conscious existence. 

The pope evidently really supposes that what he 
binds on earth is bound in the spiritual spheres, else 
he would not pronounce his fearful anathemas; and to 
a certain extent this may be the case, as nothing can 
be lost and return entirely void. But he seems not to 
comprehend that no law in nature exists by which he 
can bring his power to bear upon others in the spiritual 



SPIRIT BIOGRAPHY. 445 

realms, that these anathemas must return from whence 
they originated, and that what he has so elaborately 
prepared for his enemies he must experience himself 
to the very letter. These curses and denunciations 
exist in his own breast, and experience is the only 
crucible which can purify him from such filthy dross; 
and when he has passed through this process, and 
suffered exactly what he had measured out for others, 
he will probably find that curses for his fellow men 
are exceedingly unprofitable commodities in which to 
traffic. 

As there can be no such thing as absolute aristocracy 
in the spiritual spheres, the pope and cardinals, the 
kings and princes, find themselves upon a level, as far 
as rights are concerned, with the balance of humanity. 
They enjoyed a supposed right to certain dignities 
while upon the earth, while others did the labor and 
acted in the capacity of servants. Now the wheel lias 
made a revolution, they shall enjoy a right to labor 
their share, and act in a servile capacity, while some 
one else shall enter upon the more dignified position; 
thus an equilibrium may be established. 

Why should not this be the case? Is there any 
good reason why the pope, the king, or the highest 
dignitary upon the earth, should be supported eternally 
without labor, receiving all the honors, while some one 
else performs all that is necessary to sustain them- 
selves, and these lordlings also, without the least honor 
or dignity whatever? Justice must certainly make all 
exactly equal. If so, then it will be a great blessing 
to have entered the spiritual abodes from the lower 
walks of life; for those who have performed so much 



446 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

more than their share of manual labor will not surely 
be called upon to perform the same over again for 
some one else. The labor necessary to obtain susten- 
ance and raiment for the entire human race would not 
be extremely arduous if each individual would perform 
an exact proportion; but in this life one portion work 
to support the other in idleness, and hence the great 
hardships and poverty that are endured. Justice, 
however, introduces this law of compensation, and 
equalizes this matter in the next sphere; and very 
many inscrutable things of that character are consider- 
ably unraveled. It is ascertained that position in this 
world does not always confer dignity in that, but in 
most cases the reverse, so that others may obtain their 
equal share of the good as well as evil, the high as well 
as low. 

It will be readily perceived that a spiritual existence 
is something more than a mere shadow; in fact, we 
have been laboring through this volume to show that 
it must, in order to be real, be as substantial as the 
physical. We have been very evidently through all 
our active career in the past taking on and throwing 
off material organisms, living all the lives, and dying 
all the deaths below us, until we have culminated in 
this human form ; and now it becomes necessary, after 
we have lived this life, to die this last death to the 
more gross and materialized condition, in order that 
we may enter into the more spiritualized realms. 
But, permit us once more to repeat, as it seems so 
difficult for the human intellect to fully comprehend 
this matter, that we are no less composed of material 



SPIEIT BIOGRAPHY. 447 

substance in the next sphere than in this, only it is 
inappreciable to any of our organs of sense. 

Hence, if we pass from one sphere to another in the 
spiritual realms, it will become quite as necessary to 
die, or part with the coarser elements which are unlit 
to exist in more sublimated abodes, as it is when we 
leave this physical body and enter the second sphere. 
We are by no means through dying when these 
physical bodies are laid in the grave. When we get 
entirely through dying, it is possible that we may get 
nearly through living. We commenced with the 
indivisible entity, and it is quite probable that we 
must continue to throw off until, having passed 
through the entire cycle, we shall arrive at the same 
point again, having lain down all that we have taken 
up, and restored all that we have robbed from our 
fellows. 

It becomes clear that spiritual beings must, if they 
endure misery or enjoy happiness, be possessed of 
organs that make it quite possible for them to pass 
through those different experiences ; and we learn that 
humanity have passed through an almost interminable 
career of experiences in unfolding and perfecting those 
organs, so that when they enter the spiritual abodes 
they might become more exquisitely sensitive. We 
find, in this condition, that every organ in our posses- 
sion, and every one of the five senses, are of the utmost 
importance to our well being, and contribute greatly 
to our happiness; in fact, it is all this congregation of 
powers and faculties which constitute us human beings, 
and enable us to assume the dignity of manhood. Can 
it be supposed that all this elaborate preparation of 



448 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

spiritual machinery is to subserve its entire purpose 
while here in the physical; that it is to cease all its 
activities before it has an opportunity to display its 
marvelous powers under advantageous circumstances? 
Yery far from it. This wonderfully contrived intel- 
lectual organism, with all its complications, has but 
just entered upon its more glorious career, where its 
activities may be displayed unencumbered with so 
much of a gross and physical character as attends us 
during this mundane life. It seems a very strange 
idea to many that we should retain our combativeness 
and destructiveness, our amativeness and philoprogeni- 
tiveness, our constructiveness, alimentiveness and 
acquisitiveness, and other faculties of such like char- 
acter, which seem only adapted to an earthly existence. 
But, can we suppose that all these are lost, or that they 
are so beautifully contrived only for temporary pur- 
poses, or that they are not part and parcel of ourselves? 
Again, if we should appear in spirit life destitute of 
any of these essential portions of ourselves, then our 
individuality would be destroyed, and the connection 
would be entirely dissevered; we could not recognize 
ourselves, because we should not be ourselves, but 
some nondescript sort of thing without a name, which 
no one could comprehend. Then we must carry every 
organ with us, not only for the purpose of retaining 
our identity, but for the grander, more essential pur- 
pose of continual use throughout all the everlasting 
ages of our spiritual existence. 

If the next sphere is too sacred and holy a place in 
which to admit some of the organs which are consid- 
ered of great importance to us here, then the third 



SPIRIT BIOGKAPHY. 449 

sphere might be still more sacred, and after a while 
we should have no organs left. It would then be little 
matter whether we continue our existence or not, for 
we should be deprived of all means of enjoyment, and 
then of course conscious life would become a curse 
instead of a blessing. 

ELIAS HICKS. 

In order to illustrate this point more forcibly, we 
may be permitted to give a sketch of the spiritual 
experience of an individual who during his earth life 
was a member of the society called Quakers, and who 
was not altogether unknown to the world, but to no 
small extent distinguished, as a minister of that sect. 
If it would add any interest to his personal narrative, 
we might say the name he bore in earth life was Elias 
Hicks; and it is well known to those who had the 
honor of his acquaintance that he lived what is usually 
termed a blameless life. Being a peace man, in the 
strictest sense of the term, he lived in accordance with 
his profession. He taught the doctrines enunciated 
by Jesus, in opposition to that justice which demanded 
an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, and endeav- 
ored to incorporate, as far as his abilities would permit, 
the principles of universal love for enemies as well as 
friends into his every day life, in all its relations with 
his fellow men. And, as he remarks, his own con- 
scious, or most interior perceptions of right and wrong, 
never accused him of any hypocrisy in this respect. 
Although later in life he lost confidence in the virtue 
and efficacy of the so-called vicarious atonement, in 
29 



450 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

procuring salvation for the children of men, jet he 
ever adhered most scrupulously to the teachings of 
Jesus, and passed on to a higher life in the full belief 
of their truthfulness, and that their strict observance 
would prepare mankind for the most elevated enjoy- 
ments, not only in this world, but in the spiritual 
abodes. But we will permit him to speak for himself, 
and introduce as nearly as possible his own language: 
" I supposed it a duty which I owed my Creator, as 
well as myself, to overcome and dwarf certain organs 
which I then called passions in my nature; and I 
accordingly, as far as possible, endeavored to gain the 
ascendancy over combativeness, destructiveness, ama- 
tiveness, and perhaps acquisitiveness and inhabitive- 
ness, and I cultivated to the highest extent benevolence, 
veneration and conscientiousness, or those higher 
faculties which I supposed were more pure and holy 
than the lower propensities. By perseverance in this 
course I was quite successful in getting the mastery 
over the lower organs, or, as I termed them, the 
animal nature, and getting myself into a one-sided or 
unbalanced condition, which I supposed at the time 
rendered me superior to very many of my fellow men, 
and I of course judged them accordingly. I could not 
look with complacency, or with any degree of approval, 
upon such men as Washington or Napoleon, or in fact 
upon any individual who cultivated the arts of war, or 
those who engaged in any occupation of a warlike 
character, or even encouraged any principles but those 
of a peaceful nature. The standard which I had set up 
for my own government in these respects became unto 
me a law; and I judged all those culpable who did not 



SPIRIT BIOGRAPHY. 451 

come up to that standard, and conform to the law 
which I had established. 

"Having lived in conformity with the principles of 
peace in this world, when the messenger came that 
carries people from one condition to another, whether 
in accordance with their wishes or not, I also found a 
peace that passeth understanding. I directly entered 
into the society of those whom I had esteemed most 
among the denomination of Friends. I was permitted 
to enjoy the company of the most distinguished mem- 
bers, such as William Penn, George Fox, Elwood, and 
numerous others, and my experiences were of the most 
felicitous character; in fact, I enjoyed a peaceful kind 
of felicity which was fully to the extent of my capa- 
bilities. The associations were of the most congenial 
nature, the converse to which I listened with eager 
attention was both highly instructive and exceedingly 
entertaining, and I received every attention from male 
and female that I could possibly desire. I feasted 
upon the ambrosia extracted from the most delicate 
flowers, and drank the nectar distilled from the luscious 
fruits which are the products of this celestial paradise. 
My pleasant duties were performed with an earnestness 
and zeal which rendered them most exhilerating and 
delightful. They partly consisted in going abroad 
among the more unenlightened communities, in com- 
pany with other genial Friends of both sexes, and 
instructing the people in regard to our peculiar faith, 
or in those particular views of religion we held to be 
sacred and in accordance with divine truth. We 
frequently met with those belonging to other orders, 
engaged in the same work, all endeavoring to pro- 



452 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

mulgate their own doctrinal sentiments, and build up 
the religious associations to which they were severally 
attached; yet we entered into no inharmonious con- 
troversies, nor interfered in the least in each other's 
work. It would seem that in this condition I was 
surrounded by every element which was calculated to 
render existence delightful, and that nothing could 
possibly intervene which could in any manner inter- 
fere with the smooth current of these celestial enjoy- 
ments; and I was looking forward with blest anticipa- 
tions of an eternity of uninterrupted bliss. 

" But, I found in process of time, to my temporary 
sorrow, although no person had attempted to lay a 
straw in my pathway, that this scene must terminate. 
I ascertained that two influences were in active opera- 
tion, one urging me to pursue my way onward, and 
one crying from the distance, and calling me backward. 
I heard a faint voice as if of distress, crying for me 
to pause in my journey, and attend to the wants of 
my children, who had been left far behind and who 
were famishing for that nourishment they should have 
received at my hands. These distressing calls seemed 
to remind me of the organs which I had so basely 
neglected and condemned to starvation in my religious 
zeal while an inhabitant of the earth. I ascertained, 
upon investigation and inquiry into this matter, that 
I had committed the terrible blunder of over-esti- 
mating my own supposed knowledge. I had some- 
how arrived at the conclusion that I knew more than 
the powers to whom I had been indebted for my 
physical and mental organism; that they had placed 
some machinery there which was not only useless but 



SPIRIT BIOGKAHHY. 453 

injurious, and that I ought to do all that was in my 
power to suppress its active operation. By so doing, 
although I had not destroyed, I learned I had ruin- 
ously neglected the proper cultivation and unfoldment 
of a part of my own individuality; that I was not a 
complete man, and that I could not advance unless all 
the organs were prepared to go with me in my career 
of further unfoldment. 

" I found it absolutely necessary that I should pause 
right where I was, and devise means whereby I could 
gain what I had lost; to go back in pursuit of my lost 
children; and it may be said with great propriety, 
that Elias Hicks, that example and paragon of purity 
and peacefulness, fell from grace; fell from his high 
estate down to a hell of conflict and torment almost 
unendurable. I, who had for a time partaken of the 
celestial food and tasted of the pure etherealized foun- 
tains from whence comes the drink that slakes the 
thirst and satisfies the appetite of angels, was com- 
pelled once more to return and find human organisms 
in which I could dwell until I had accomplished that 
which I had refused to do while in earth-life. I had 
neglected the culture and unfoldment of a portion of 
my children. I had denied their honorable birth- 
right, and looked upon them and treated them with 
utter contempt and scorn. I had refused them that 
sustenance they required for their growth and unfold- 
ment, and lavished all my care and attention upon my 
favorite offspring. I had blessed Jacob, and cursed 
Esau. I had cried out in the enthusiam of my mis- 
guided soul, ' Jacob have I loved, and Esau have 1 
hated.' And I really supposed I was justified and 



4:64: THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

honored by my God, for having followed his divine 
example. But, I have learned by unhappy yet ex- 
tremely valuable experience, that Esau was inherently 
entitled to as much love and no more hatred than 
Jacob; and that my little children, who had occupied 
the back brain, had been entitled to as much of my 
fatherly care and protection as those which seemed to 
me so much more graceful in their forms and features, 
and which were sitting in the front and uppermost 
seats found in my organism. 

" I learned that wisdom and power of the most 
exalted character had been brought into activity in 
the production of this marvelously constructed piece 
of mental or spiritual machinery; that one wheel 
was just as good and pure and quite as important as 
another, and that each one should receive like atten- 
tion from the intellectual monarch who sits upon 
the throne, and to whose care this whole organism 
is entrusted. I learned, also, that I had rendered 
myself extremely culpable by this preference. I 
had given to some an affluence of fatherly care and 
attention, and for the neglect and scorn with which 
I had treated the others, I now must pay the just 
penalty, by returning to the low conditions in which 
I had left my long neglected organs, and there carry 
them through that experience which might have been 
done so easily when I was in earth-life. I had been 
permitted to pass through the human organism in 
earth-life for the express purpose of unfolding and 
developing all the organs with which I was endowed, 
that they might be prepared to enter with me into a 
higher or more spiritualized condition. 



SPIRIT BIOGRAPHY. 455 

Ci But I had selected out those which, in my great 
wisdom, I supposed were proper for me to cultivate, 
and devoted all my attention to them, while the oth- 
ers were left away back in the wilderness; and I must 
now leave my high estate, after ascertaining that I 
could not go forward without them, and go back to 
the very place where they were left. I could not take 
the organs of combativeness or amativeness with me 
into the celestial spheres, in the condition in which I 
left them, for they were crude and lacked the needed 
experience; they were unprepared, hence I must 
remain in the low conditions myself, however revolt- 
ing to my higher nature, until they could be elabo- 
rated and fitted to progress in harmony with the 
others which had been my favorites. 

"Without these organs in a state of equal unfold- 
ment I was not an entire man, nor a complete spirit- 
ual being, for there are numerous conditions in our 
experience here where every one must be brought into 
requisition; consequently, every one must be unfolded 
in harmony with all the others, else we would be com- 
pelled to go halting through the spiritual realms 'but 
half made up,' and, like Richard, 'so lamely and 
unfashionable that the dogs would bark at us.' 

" It will appear quite obvious that if we are com- 
pelled to come to earth conditions to finish what we 
neglected while here, we shall do our work in the least 
possible time, and that if we have faculties that are un- 
progressed, we shall endeavor to educate them in those 
schools where they can be put through very speedily. 
So it may not appear strange if, in their elaboration, I 
found it proper to enter into the lowest dens of degra- 



456 THE GOSPEL OF NAT ORE. 

elation, where I could sooner learn all the results, and 
enter into all the experiences produced by those organs 
in full plaj in this earth sphere. I obtained control 
of the media, whom I have since used so successfully 
for apparently higher purposes, and I learned him 
who had previously been so particularly reserved in 
this respect, to swear most profanely, and when I had 
exhausted all his resources, I found those whose com- 
bativeness could carry them to a greater extent. I have 
visited those places of resort where the vile and the 
abominable assemble, where cursing and swearing, 
wrangling and fighting, knocking down and dragging 
out were the order of the day as well as the night; 
and I, the peace-loving Quaker, have engaged in those 
brawling orgies with more than earthly fierceness, that 
I might sooner obtain the depth of those experiences 
connected with the basic powers of mind; I have 
frequented every -scene of mirthf illness, all the haunts 
of dissipation, the lowest dens of infam} T and degrada- 
tion, where vice and every species of impurity hold 
high carnival; where licentiousness and prostitutions 
are the least of the crimes committed; and where the 
lower faculties seem to predominate to the utter extinc- 
tion of every sentiment that is pure and good and 
elevating to the human character. Such have been 
the schools to which I have been compelled to resort 
in order that these long neglected children might 
sooner obtain that education which was so sadly 
neglected while I was in an earth form. Had I 
recognized those organs during my earthly career, 
as a part and a parcel of myself, entirely worthy my 
attention, entitled to cultivation and improvement, 



SPIRIT BIOGRAPHY. 4:57 

designed for the accomplishment of the grandest pur- 
poses, and that I was as much dependent upon them 
as any other for my well-being and happiness; had I, 
in accordance with my best judgment, given them 
healthy exercise corresponding with their demands, 
it would have been entirely unnecessary for me to 
have passed through this terrible ordeal. 

"But when we educate our children, it becomes 
necessary they should attend those schools where the 
branches are taught which we desire them to under- 
stand. My benevolence, veneration, and the higher 
powers, were already preponderate gly developed — 
they required no schooling — so it became necessary 
for me to attend places of instruction which were 
exclusive, and where the use of the lower alone pre- 
dominated, in order that the whole organism might 
be properly equalized and harmoniously balanced. 

" I have, by this school of experience, learned the 
important lesson that ' all are but parts of one stu- 
pendous whole' ; that all the parts are of equal value; 
all equally essential to the well-being of the whole; 
none can be neglected with impunity, for all alike 
require that cultivation and unfoldment in every 
condition which will prepare them for higher and 
more glorious attainments in the next above. Since 
obtaining this experience, I have not been so much 
engaged in promulgating any particular religious dog- 
mas, or in laboring to advance the interest of Quaker- 
ism, as I have in endeavoring to promote the general 
interests of all intelligent beings. I have learned that 
all are equal, though all are not in the same conditions 
of unfoldment. Each one is working out his own sal- 



£58 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

vation, in his own particular manner, in accordance 
with the influences by which he has been surrounded 
and the powers by which he is impelled to move 
onward. All will ultimate in good; every one will 
arrive at a high and glorious destination, though some 
may travel apparently much longer roads and in very 
different directions from others. 

" The grand desideratum of an education upon the 
earth-sphere, is evidently found in a proper cultiva- 
tion and healthy unfoldment of every organ entering 
into the human constitution, whether it be situated in 
the base or the frontal portion of the brain. When 
this idea is fully appreciated and acted upon, doubt- 
less humanity will make more rapid strides toward 
that 'good time coming,' the arrival of which very 
many are earnestly hoping to witness. It was not 
altogether as a righteous retribution that I was com- 
pelled to enter and pass through the various schools 
of vice into which I was introduced, but also that I 
might become familiarized and know the experiences 
of the victims of these lower conditions, for such is 
a part of the sum of all knowledge, and this part is 
required to qualify an individual to fill many positions 
in which he may be placed in spirit-life. No person 
could be prepared to act in the capacity of judge, 
unless he had first experienced conditions similar to 
those who are brought to the judgment seat. He 
must first have a knowledge by experience of the 
influences which surround those who are sunk into 
the depths of all manner of vice and iniquity, before 
he is qualified to render an impartial judgment, or 
one that is directed by the highest wisdom. 



SPIRIT BIOGRAPHY. 459 

"All forms of government must necessarily exist 
in the spiritual realms, else how did they come to the 
earth? The spiritual is a higher condition than the 
earthly, and all things of this character must have 
proceeded from the higher. The inhabitants of earth 
have only improved in their forms of government, 
and their ideas of civil liberty, as they have been 
taught and become capable of appreciating those 
higher views which come from the spirit-world. If 
there are forms of government, there must be offi- 
cial stations to be occupied, and in a realm where 
universal justice prevails, all must be alike eligible to 
those positions, and each one should be qualified to 
fill them properly, and hence every organ requires 
attention and that careful cultivation which renders 
the individual capable of acting in any of these public 
stations. It is more than probable that I may be 
called upon to sit in the judgment seat myself at 
some future period, and although my lessons may not 
all be learned, my preparatory experiences may not 
all be completed — I may not have passed through 
the lowest hells — yet I am doubtless far better qual- 
ified to officiate in that station than when I supposed 
myself to be a pure angel unsoiled by the scorching 
influences of so-called iniquity and transgression. I 
announce it to the world as an important fact, that 
all the pure angels who pass into spirit-life as I did, 
apparently unspotted and uncontaminated by vice of 
any description — those whose basic organs are unde- 
veloped — must fall from that condition and go down 
through experiences similar to those through which I 
have passed. They must, sooner or later, halt in their 



460 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

upward career, and go back to the very conditions in 
which they have left their despised and neglected 
intellectual powers, and there remain until they are 
prepared to advance, based upon a more complete 
foundation. They must enter in through the one 
door that universal law has provided; there is no such 
thing as climbing up some other way; they will surely 
find a period when they cannot advance without their 
entire man or womanhood, without every organ with 
which they have been provided, and one additional 
one corresponding to the sphere they have last entered. 
" It may be quite possible for religions devotees of 
every denomination to continue a long period in the 
full enjoyment and ■ belief of all the opinions and 
usages they have been taught in earth -life, and thus 
live in genial, harmonious communities, retaining a 
large share of their conservatism and opposition to 
progressive development; but the time must come in 
their individual history, when they will be compelled 
to leave the ranks. A time must arrive when nature's 
universal laws will assert their prerogative, and they 
can go no further in that direction, for they must 
unavoidably pass through all that course of discipline 
requisite to complete their spiritual education, as fully 
unfolded individualized beings. How very frequently 
questions arise in earth -life in regard to the various 
conditions of spirit-existence. Do they eat, drink, see, 
hear, feel, taste and smell? "We say most assuredly, 
they have not lost one organ or one function by com- 
ing into spirit-life; on the contrary, every one in its 
proper state of unfoldment will be exceedingly inten- 
sified, and rendered vastly more sensitive and capable 



SPIRIT BIOGRAPHY. 461 

of affording enjoyments inconceivably superior to the 
grosser conditions of earth-life. 

"Spiritual existence is one of positive activities; 
and if so, it must require continual recuperation, as 
it is a well-established principle in nature, that all 
positive forces in activity are exhaustive cf their own 
resources, and they must be re-supplied, else activities 
must cease, and entire quiet or repose must necessarily 
ensue. Hence, spiritual organisms must receive sus- 
tenance, just as much as physical beings; but, it 
must be remembered that the sustenance must con- 
tain within it the precise elements required to restore 
and build up the spiritual nature. 

"There can be nothing lost; every power, every 
faculty or function which we require here to com- 
plete our organization, were thus elaborated and pre- 
pared for the spiritual abodes. How should we inhale 
the aroma of the celestial flowers without the nasal 
organs? How should we listen to the harmonious 
music of those who have devoted ages to its cultiva- 
tion unless we possessed the power of hearing, or how 
could we be enabled to appreciate any of the more 
exalted enjoyments of this celestial sphere unless we 
retained, to the fullest extent, all those organs through 
which those various gratifications are made appreciable 
to the inner consciousness? In one word, let it be 
clearly understood by those in the earth sphere, that 
we arc only more perfected men and women, existing 
m a higher but essentially a natural condition, divested 
of a cumbrous load of gross material which formerly 
bound us to the earth, materially retarded our loco- 
motion, overshadowed and befogged our mental 



462 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

powers, and seriously interfered with those spir- 
itual enjoyments to which we are admitted in this 
more etherealized realm." 

May the lessons taught us by the Quaker sink 
deeply into the hearts of those who anticipate obtain- 
ing a high seat in their fancied heaven, by virtue of 
their religious professions, and their success in gain- 
ing a one-sided education, by constant endeavors to 
subdue or destroy a part of the necessary organs 
with which they have been endowed by those powers 
who ushered them into existence. It would be far 
more wise to inquire into the nature of the organism 
as we find it, and endeavor to learn the uses and value 
of each particular one, than to stultify ourselves by 
making our lives one unsuccessful struggle to build 
up, beautify and adorn one part of the fabric, while 
we crush out and as far as possible destroy the others. 
Let man stop and reflect for a moment, that his wis- 
dom cannot be superior to that which contrived and 
set in active operation this wonderful piece of physical 
and mental machinery; and let him, instead of wast- 
ing his life in a vain endeavor to improve upon the 
construction of the organism, properly venerate those 
powers and principalities who have elaborated the 
complex machine with such unsurpassed grandeur 
and beauty. Let him, if he would be wise, use all 
his powers in cultivating himself just as he is, and 
thus make a judicious application of his native abil- 
ities in the preparation for the next sphere in advance. 

THOMAS PAINE. 

In extending our inquiries into the various phases 



SPIRIT BIOGRAPHY. 463 

o*f spiritual life and experience, it would doubtless be 
exceedingly interesting to learn how the avowed Infidel 
might fare after shuffling off this mortal coil and 
entering those abodes which have as yet been over- 
shadowed by so much of mystery. We will endeavor 
to give the ideas contained in the following narrative 
nearly as possible as they were received. 

The media remarked: I perceive standing before 
me a personage of commanding presence. I should 
judge, from a picture which I have seen, that I recog- 
nize his features, although the picture gives but the 
faintest possible delineation of his present appearance. 
He seems, as far as I am able to judge, complete in his 
manhood — fully rounded out and developed in all his 
organs. He wears a bright star upon one breast, 
indicating his high official station, and a coronet upon 
his brow, which seems covered with devices and written 
language that I do not comprehend. He wears a sort 
of epaulette, that does not appear to be a symbol of 
either military or political distinction; but he seems 
entitled to wear this emblem by virtue of his uniform 
honesty and integrity. This insignia seems to indicate 
that he who wears it is really one of nature's noblemen, 
and an honest, upright man — one who has despised 
hypocrisy of every kind, and lived true to the principles 
of nature. 

This man, though scandalized and vilified to a 
greater extent after his death than any other man who 
has lived, really did more for the establishment and 
promotion of civil and religious liberty than any other 
individual upon the American continent. He does not 
seem to be ashamed of his name in earth life, for I now 



464 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE 

see imprinted in bright letters upon his forehead the 
name of Thomas Paine; and we will now let him speak 
for himself. 

" My public life and writings are quite well known to. 
the world; and had I forborne to have written and 
published the Age of Reason, I might have enjoyed an 
enviable popularity, for my cotemporaries acknowl- 
edged that I accomplished more with the pen than 
Washington did with the sword in the procurement of 
the liberties of the American people. But I wrote 
this work in the honesty and integrity of my heart 
while in a French prison, and when I had reason to 
expect that I might be taken from my prison cell to 
the guillotine at any hour. Men are not apt to utter 
that at such times they do not honestly conceive to be 
the truth. I had a natural inbred hatred for the 
priesthood. I conceived the sentiments they were 
teaching the people to be false and injurious, and felt 
within me an earnest desire to disabuse the public 
mind, and save them from the influence of the doctrines 
inculcated by them. I would have honestly advocated 
the sentiments I expressed before the judgment seat, 
or in the immediate presence of Jesus and the Living 
God, for they were the honest convictions of my soul; 
and for this I have suffered the scorn and contempt, 
the unmitigated slanders and vilification of the religious 
world. They pursued me to the death, and there 
inquired if I was not prepared to recant the sentiments 
I had written, and would not endeavor to make my 
peace with God. I replied with almost my last 
remaining breath that I saw no reason to change my 
opinions as yet; and I passed quietly into the embrace 



SPIRIT BIOGRAPHY. 465 

of that angel who comes to release the tired soul from 
the persecutions of all enemies of that character. 

" I seemed to be first aroused to consciousness by the 
dulcet voice of one whom I recognized as a lady I had 
once loved with all the ardor of youth; one to whom 
I had consecrated all the affections of my soul nature, 
and with whom I fondly hoped to spend a life of 
wedded bliss, and doubtless might had she not been 
for some wise purpose taken from my embrace during 
the bloom of her earlier years. I entered into the 
enjoyment of her society with greatly intensified 
mental powers, of which I had known only the sem- 
blance while in earth life, because of the grosser char- 
acter of the physical organs. It will be impossible to 
give the inhabitants of earth a clear idea of the great 
superiority of the joys we are permitted to experience, 
unless they fully appreciate the increased power of the 
finer elements as exhibited throughout universal 
nature. When they fully understand this lesson, the 
increased capabilities of the spirit, both for endurance 
of sufferings and the enjoyment of happiness, will be a 
problem easy of solution. 

" I was directly introduced to my mother, who again 
embraced me with all the tenderness that can gush 
from a mother's heart, and lavished upon me all the 
affections that her enlarged nature possessed. I was 
also received with great honors by many with whom I 
had been acquainted in the earthly form, as well as by 
those who were familiar with my public career and 
writings; in fact, I may say, although with becoming 
modesty, that my reception in the spirit world was an 
ovation, or rather a triumph, such as is rarely accorded 
30 



4:66 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

to those who make their first entrance into these 
abodes. 

" I was welcomed with great honors by the veterans 
and distinguished officers of the army of the Revolu- 
tion as a true son of liberty, and one who had devoted 
the best energies of his earth life in promulgating its 
pure principles and in elevating humanity up to that 
condition where their value might be appreciated. I 
was hailed and honored as an uncompromising enemy 
to slavery and bondage of every description, and an 
untiring worker in the great field of universal freedom. 
I received the welcome plaudits of the good and the 
great everywhere, because I had honestly and in the 
integrity of my soul advocated the principles of free- 
dom from the bondage of all religious, as well as 
political tyranny and usurpation; because I had, 
regardless of my personal popularity, opposed with all 
my might that gross injustice which was practiced 
upon the masses of the people, both in church and 
State. I had ever, during my whole life, advocated 
those sentiments which I honestly believed to be in 
accord with universal justice, and which would best 
promote an equal distribution of the enjoyment of the 
natural inherent rights of all men. I totally ignored 
all ideas of divine rights guaranteed to individuals to 
act in the capacity of kings, popes or priests, and 
recognized only that broad democratic equality of 
human rights which would guarantee exact and even- 
handed justice to every man, woman and child. For 
this I was slandered and abused by my fellow men 
upon the earth; but I was honored and vociferously 
applauded by those who were endowed with larger 



SPIRIT BIOGRAPHY. 467 

capacities for discrimination in regard to true merit in 
the spiritual spheres. 

" I was introduced to William Penn and the distin- 
guished members of his sect, and received at their 
hands all the honors they could in any manner confer; 
and I was at perfect liberty to remain among this 
friendly people and enjoy all their good things as long 
as I wished. I have been introduced into various 
associations, and everywhere received marked attention 
and great respect. I have been made acquainted with 
the most distinguished men and women of America 
and Europe, as well as Asia and Africa, of both modern 
and ancient times; and in all associations, and among 
all people, I have been recognized as an honest man, 
and one who lived true to the principles which I pro- 
fessed, and which I had established for my own gov- 
ernment. 

" I am confirmed in the opinion, from the experiences 
I have had in spirit life, that it is greatly preferable 
to enter this sphere as an honest Infidel rather than a 
dishonest and hypocritical Christian. I speak as I do 
concerning Christians, for after having very favorable 
opportunities of judging of their real character, divested 
of all disguises, for a long period of time, I have 
learned that they very generally answer that descrip- 
tion. The rarest and most valuable qualifications with 
which an individual can enter the next sphere are 
strict honesty, uprightness and integrity of purpose, 
and no vicarious atonement can compensate for the 
want of these important requisites. 

" During my earthly pilgrimage I was entirely satis- 
fied with my own organization as I found it; I looked 



468 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

upon it as a marvel of genius and skill. I saw nothing 
in my nature to change or reconstruct, consequently I 
endeavored to live as naturally as possible, and satisfy 
all the demands of my nature in accordance with my 
best judgment, guided by reason and common sense. 
Hence, when I arrived at the end of life's journey I 
found all the organs had received their proper share 
of attention — none had been dwarfed^ and none had 
received an undue share of respect or cultivation — so 
that my organism mentally was not materially out of 
balance. For this cause it has been quite unnecessary 
for me to pass through those fiery ordeals spoken of 
by others; on the contrary, I have been permitted to 
pursue the even tenor of my way without many of 
those remarkably painful experiences which have been 
the lot of so many, particularly the professed Christian 
priest or minister. 

" I do not conceive that I shall in the aggregate 
endure any less suffering than my brethren who have 
been attached to the church; but I receive mine in a 
very different manner. I did not in earth life pro- 
nounce any unrighteous judgments upon my fellow 
men who were compelled to differ with me in opinion ; 
and as I made no such garments for myself, I have 
not been obliged to wear them ; as I was the proprietor 
of no such chickens, none have come home to roost 
with me — they only come home to those from whom 
they are sent forth. 

" I did not deal out damnation in any quantity to 
my neighbors in the world below, so nothing of that 
character has returned to me in this. I have only 
suffered from the dishonest and uncharitable slanders 



SPIEIT BIOGRAPHY. 469 

and calumny of those who openly professed to follow 
Him who taught them to love their enemies and do 
good unto them of whom they were hated. For these 
causes, perhaps, my spirit life has not been so replete 
with stirring incidents as very many others, who pur- 
sued a different course, and lived less true to their 
natural instincts, conceiving that part of their organ- 
isms were defective and required overhauling and 
reconstructing. 

"I was eventually chosen by my friends and fellow 
citizens to fill the important office of judge over a very 
great number of people in the fifth circle of this sphere; 
and I have occupied that dignified position for a great 
length of time, as far as I know honestly, and to the 
entire satisfaction of all the parties concerned. In this 
capacity it has become my duty to sit in judgment 
upon large numbers of those unfortunate priests of 
different denominations who have taken special pains 
to vilify the name of their supposed Infidel enemy 
whom they had been pleased to call Tom Paine. They 
have been brought before me as their judge with that 
parade, and with such ceremony, that they really sup- 
posed they had appeared before the Supreme God 
whom they had been taught to worship ; and they have 
really considered me the ruler of the great universe, 
by whom they expected to be elevated to exalted con- 
ditions in their long anticipated heavenly Jerusalem. 
They have come before me trembling in every nerve 
and fibre of their whole beings, supposing the books to 
be opened and the seals set; and to them it was a 
living truth, they were to be tried according to the 
deeds done in the flesh, and by the professions they 



470 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

had made, the doctrines they had promulgated, and the 
judgments they had pronounced upon their fellows. 
But, in all my experiences, I have never pronounced 
any judgment upon a single one of these individuals; 
they have uniformly given judgment against them- 
selves after a few interrogatories, and they have 
exclaimed, with shame and confusion, let me go to my 
own place among the hypocrites and unbelievers. All 
that it has become my duty to say upon these occa- 
sions, in the exercise of my official functions, has been 
simply, be it unto you in accordance with the just 
sentence you have given; and they have departed 
amid the shoutings, jeers and derision of those who 
were ready to laugh at their calamities, as they have 
so often said, and mock when their fear cometh. 

" We may take occasion in a proper place to present 
a few of the simple questions propounded to these 
individuals; and I trust the reasons why they so 
readily pass this self-condemning judgment will become 
quite obvious, and that a very important phase of 
spiritual existence will be forcibly illustrated. 

" No professed Christian or believer in a vicarious 
atonement can fill any official station in the spirit 
realms until they work out their own salvatiou, by 
becoming thoroughly purged from the gross dishonesty 
inculcated in such an abominable dogma; not until 
they suffer all the unjust judgments they have pro- 
nounced upon others, and obtain by experience a 
competent knowledge of the universal principles of 
even-handed justice. By that time they are sure to 
learn that penal judgments are very poor stock, and 
exceedingly unprofitable for men to deal in or deal out; 



SPIRIT BIOGRAPHY. 471 

that exact justice is the only hope of mankind, either 
upon the earth or in heaven; that each individual 
must be tried by this balance, and receive what 
properly belongs to him, regardless of any schemes of 
salvation or beliefs devised by men or spirits. 

" I have been elevated to a higher position, and 
another sits in the judgment seat I once occupied. 
But in spirit life we never lose the authority once con- 
ferred upon us, and virtually I am still judge over the 
same court, for being invested with that authority, I 
became judge over all circles and all spheres below. 
I still hold, and shall ever retain this power, when I 
choose to bring it into exercise, over all people below 
the condition in which I served in the capacity of 
judge. 

" Strange as it may appear, any and all the priests 
in Christendom who have delighted to do me dishonor 
may be brought to that bar of justice where the much 
scorned and hated Thomas Paine presides, attended by 
all the judicial honors that can possibly be conferred 
in the particular sphere. They may also be apprised 
that he has ascended to a still more honorable and 
elevated position, and that the dignified duties of his 
present official station does not necessarily bring him 
in contact with a class of persons whom he can only 
behold in their priestly characters with an eye of pity- 
ing contempt." 

But since judgment must commence at the House 
of God, since the courts are all established, the books 
are all written, out of which they must be judged, 
and since all these people are in the habit of pro- 
nouncing and executing sentence upon themselves, 



472 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

why may not the court be called even now, the books 
opened and the seals set; why not permit them to 
commence their own trial at once? Why shall we 
wait till some far-off judgment day? It is not possi- 
ble that any new light can be thrown upon this sub- 
ject, or that any new testimony can be offered. All 
must be judged in accordance with the professions 
they have made, the doctrines they have taught, and 
the words they have enforced. They have accepted 
Jesus as their prophet, priest and king, as the author 
of all truth; they proclaim his words to be the law 
by which they are to be tried, and they acknowledge 
this judgment to be final. 

These words and this rule of conduct has been all 
extant for many centuries; no one is permitted, under 
very heavy penalties, to add anything thereto or take 
anything therefrom, and if the day of judgment 
should be delayed for a million years it could not 
make the least difference. The rewards for obedience 
or the penalties for transgression cannot be changed 
a single hair by any lengthy postponement. In the 
inspired codification of these sacred laws we find it 
recorded as the express language of this Divine Law- 
giver, "Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man; I 
came not to judge the world. He that receive th not 
my words, hath one that judge th him ; the word that 
I have spoken, the same shall judge the world in the 
last day." 

Then as his words have all been spoken and writ- 
ten, there is no necessity for delay ; the testimony is 
all accessible, and each one may come to judgment at 
once by referring to his own language, without calling 



SPIRIT BIOGRAPHY. 473 

upon any of his followers for their views. If they 
are justified when tried by the words they acknowledge 
came from His divine lips, and were uttered for their 
strict observance and government, then they may be 
saved; if not, if they have not lived and conducted 
themselves honestly, in accordance with their profes- 
sions and preaching, then they must be lost, and 
take their allotted places with the hypocrites and 
unbelievers. 

We may now hear the law as given by this 
Supreme authority: "Think not that I am come 
to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to 
destroy, but to fulfill. For, verily 1 say unto you, 
till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle 
shall in no wise pass from the law, until all be ful- 
filled. But I say unto you, whosoever looketh on a 
woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery 
with her already in his heart. I say unto you, swear 
not at all. Woe unto you that are rich, for ye have 
received your consolation. Woe unto you that are 
full, for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh 
now, for ye shall mourn and weep. I say unto you 
which hear, love your enemies; do good to them 
which hate you. Bless them that curse you, and pray 
for them which despitefuliy use you. And unto him 
that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; 
and him that taketh away thy cloak, let him have thy 
coat also. 

" Give to every one that asketh of thee ; and of him 
that taketh away thy goods, ask them not again. 

" But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, 
hoping for nothing again. For if ye love them which 



474 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

love you, what thank have ye; or, if ye do good to 
those which do good to you, or lend to them of whom 
ye hope to receive, what thank have ye; sinners also 
do even the same. 

"Judge not that ye be not judged; for, with what 
judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged, and with what 
measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 

"When thou prayest, thou shall not be as the 
hypocrites are, for they love to pray standing in the 
synagogues, that they may be seen of men; they have 
their reward. 

" But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet 
and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy father 
which is in secret. 

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the 
earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt. 

" Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your 
life, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, nor yet 
for your body, what ye shall put on. 

" Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the 
morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. 

" Verily- 1 say unto you, if ye have faith and doubt 
not, ye shall not only do this which is done unto the 
fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, 
be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea, it shall 
be done. 

" If thy hand offend thee, cut it off. 

" If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, it is better 
for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one 
eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. 

" It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a 



SPIRIT BIOGRAPHY. 475 

needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom 
of heaven. 

" Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye 
desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and 
ye shall have them. And when ye stand praying, for- 
give if ye have ought against any, that your father 
also which is in heaven may forgive your trespasses. 

" But if ye do not forgive neither will your father 
which is in heaven forgive your trespasses. 

" A new commandment I give unto you, That ye 
love one another. By this shall all men know that 
ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. 

" Ye call me Master and Lord, and ye say well, for 
so I am. If I then your Lord and Master have washed 
your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet. 
For I have given you an example, that ye should do 
as I have done to you. 

" Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth 
on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and 
greater works than these shall he do, because I go 
unto my father. 

"And these signs shall follow them that believe. 
In my name they shall cast out devils, they shall 
speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents 
and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt 
them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall 
recover." 

These are a portion of the teachings, instructions 
and commandments of Jesus, called the Christ, whom 
the Christian world have acknowledged to be the son 
and equal of the most high God, and whose words 
they avow to be infallible truth; and by these say- 



476 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

ings, then, they must stand or fall. It only remains 
for them to ascertain if they have faithfully yielded 
obedience to these commands, and squared their daily 
conduct in accordance with the teachings and instruc- 
tions given. Each one may judge himself as well 
to-day as at any future period; he may consider him-. 
self in the immediate presence of the infinite Jehovah, 
and he most certainly is if there is such a being. 
He may propound the interrogatories at once, and 
answer them in accordance with the real facts in the 
case. Exact justice shall rule in this court. 

Do I or does any of the Christian church fulfill the 
law given by God to Moses, or obey the injunctions 
of the prophets? Do I ever look upon a woman to 
desire her in my heart? If so, I commit adultery. 
Do I love my enemies, those whom I hate and abom- 
inate? for every man and woman has such. Do I even 
love all the brethren, all those who profess Christ? 

It may, as we judge or condemn no man, be quite 
proper to look into this matter and ascertain where 
the Christian may land when tried by this law. The 
command is clear and explicit they are to love all their 
enemies specially, for in that particular they are to be 
distinguished from the sinners; for sinners love their 
friends. They are to love all the brethren in order to 
be his disciples. We need hardly glance at the history 
of the church to learn that individually and collec- 
tively they have utterly ignored these commands and 
treated them with more than contempt. They have 
uniformly, whenever opportunity offered, treated their 
enemies with the utmost barbarity and cruelty, and 
brought to bear every engine that their ingenuity 



SPIRIT BIOGRAPHY. 477 

prompted by the most fearful malignity could invent, 
for their destruction. The law given by Jesus surely 
requires love to enemies, passive obedience and non- 
resistance to tyranny in its worst form. Have Chris- 
tians, unless by compulsion, ever in any age acted in 
comformity with such a law? Never; so far from 
that, history proves that in every instance, where the 
opportunity has offered, they have been the aggressors. 

Under this predominating Christian influence which 
teaches the doctrines of universal peace and non-re- 
sistance, every civilized nation has recognized itself as 
a warlike people, and they have expended annually 
sufficient in military defenses and preparations, to sus- 
tain in comparative comfort, all that are impoverished 
and in any manner need assistance. Ninety-nine out 
of every hundred of the population, both priests and 
people, have totally disregarded these solemn injunc- 
tions of their acknowledged God and Savior, and have 
lived in the daily practice of acts diametrically in 
opposition to his imperative commands. 

The various denominations, although they all profess 
to place implicit confidence in the teachings of Jesus 
and his divine authority, have ever been in the habit 
of treating each other with coldness, scorn and con- 
tempt, regardless of the oft repeated commands to love 
one another as brethren. We may safely conclude, 
after a very thorough investigation of this matter, that 
there are not any of all who profess Christianity who 
can write their names under these teachings and com- 
mands of their Master, and honestly avow that they 
have lived in obedience to His behests in any sense of 
the word. They must confess they have dishonored 



478 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

Him by an utter disregard of His injunctions. It is 
worse than ridiculous to suppose that any vicarious 
atonements could obviate and neutralize the effect of 
such disobedience. If so, there could have been no 
propriety in giving these instructions or in issuing 
these orders. 

They have been told not to pray in public, or make 
long prayers; yet they continually do both, regardless 
of the injunction. They have been taught not to judge 
their fellow men ; yet their judgments, written and 
spoken, fill the whole earth. Commanded not to lay 
up treasures upon the earth, and still they are piling 
up riches with an inordinate greed; to take no thought 
for the morrow, and they are all laying their plans for 
years ahead, and even for their whole lives; they are 
manufacturing clothing and preparing food for years 
instead of a single day. 

We may inquire which one of His commands have 
they kept, and the answer they would be compelled to 
make, if before the judgment seat, would be: Not one; 
I am altogether guilty. 

Do we ever find these persons lending without 
usury, or where they do not expect to receive it back 
again, or giving heed to a single one of the important 
infallible instructions of Him whom they claim to 
serve? May they not well exclaim, then, when they 
hear these interrogatories coming from a personage 
who they really suppose to be the judge of quick and 
dead, " Let me take my place among the hypocrites 
and unbelievers?" It is quite possible that the Chris- 
tian believer may live in the full assurance that his 
faith and practice were the only sure guide to eternal 



SPIRIT BIOGRAPHY. 479 

truth, for a thousand years, if he is sufficiently con- 
servative and unprogressive. "Who should hinder him % 
But at some time nature will assert her rights, and 
justice will assume her prerogative, and he must dis- 
cover that he has been following after shadows and 
delusions; and he will seek that judgment he requires 
for his own proper development into a higher life. 
He must inevitably fall, and go down to those hells 
which he has aided in building for his fellow men, and 
experience that damnation he has dealt out so freely; 
and then, and not till then, will he be educated upon 
this important subject. Then will he really begin to 
understand the true nature and uses of damnation, and 
why such elements are permitted to exist in the natural 
universe. He will probably ascertain the important 
fact that damnation is as good and beneficial for one 
as for another; that if it exists it was designed to be 
of universal application, and each individual is entitled 
to his own proper share. 

If there is such an element as salvation, it is but a 
part and parcel of universal nature, and damnation can 
be nothing more or less; each one good in its proper 
place, and alike valuable to those who are called upon 
to enjoy the one or endure the other. 

There can be no experience barren of results, or that 
will not be profitable to the individual; but there are 
many kinds of discipline we should be glad to avoid, 
the same as we shrink from the extraction of a tooth 
or the amputation of a limb; nevertheless, such endur- 
ances are a part of nature, and prove exceedingly bene- 
ficial. 

We sincerely hope the reader who has perused the 



480 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. 

preceding pages has learned the great face that nature 
has never made any serious blunders, or met with any 
unforeseen mishaps, but that every event which has 
transpired upon our planet has taken place in strict 
accord with immutable laws, and has been the direct 
result of pre-existing causes. Hence, such events 
were the best and only ones that could occur dur- 
ing all the different periods of our earth's history. 
We hope, too, they will ascertain that nature is moving 
right onward; that her ponderous w T heels continue 
their mighty revolutions, progressing and unfolding 
all things within the reach of their influence, regard- 
less of the religious beliefs of any and all the sects that 
exist. 

We have now finished our task, which has occupied 
a portion of our attention and thoughts for some years 
in the past; and since its commencement our invisible 
friends — the real authors of this work— have mani- 
fested the liveliest interest in its publication. 

It is needless to say that the media through whose 
organism the foregoing ideas have been given, together 
with the writer, have experienced the same anxiety; 
and all, we trust, sincerely hope that this book may 
exert an illuminating influence upon the minds of all 
such readers as are learning to think for themselves, to 
whom it is respectfully dedicated. 



INDEX. 



CHAPTER I 

THE SOUL OF THINGS. 

Fundamentals, 7. Divisibility of Matter, 10. Human Existence, 

14 Spirit Entities, 16. Subdivision, 18. Inharmonies, 24. 

Harmonies, 26. Attributes, 31. Unity, 35. Cause, 37. Sleep, 
39. The I Am, 42. Worship, 46. 

CHAPTER II. 

INTELLIGENCE. 

The Store House, 51. A Transcript, 59. Children, 62. Reli- 
gions, 63. Audubon, 67. Intelligence in Substance, 70. Euclid 
and Moses, 74. Star Making, 76. The Bible, 79. 

CHAPTER III. 

INTELLECT. 

Intellectual Food, 83. Growth, 85. Animal Intellects, 86. 
Organic Unfoldment, 90. Senses, 96. Mental Organisms, 100. 
Soul Essence, 103. Small Things, 104. Beginning, 106. Con- 
clusions, 108. Unfoldment, 110. Instinct, 112. Interior Self- 
hood, 114. From Below, 116. Intellect, 121. Superior Beings, 
Worship, 123. Jesus, 125. More Worship, 125. Purity, 128. 
Salvation, 129. 

CHAPTER IV. 

DISCORDS. 

Good and Evil, 130. Nothing Bad, 131. Discordant Powers, 
133. Patching Up, 137. All Truth, 138. Microcosm, 140. 
Thunder, Lightning and Flood, 142. More Discords, 144. Tear- 
ing Down and Reconstructing, 146. Conflicts in Society, 148. 
The World, 150. The Cat, 151. Culmination, 154. Unnatural 

(481) 



482 INDEX. 

Ideas, 158. Religion and Discords, 160. Jewish Conflicts, 162. 
Christian Antagonisms, 164. Church History, 167. Christian 
Wars, 175. More Animal Discords, 177. Blunders, 179. War 
in Heaven, 180. 

CHAPTER V. 

PROGRESSION. 

Causes, 185. Inherent in Substance, 186. Materialization, 188. 
Space Ocean, 189. Intellects Unfoldod, 191. Substance Homo- 
geneous, 193. The Higher Eat the Lower, 196. Food, 197. 
Spirit of the Tree, 198. Living Entities, 200. Belisma, 203. 
Lenses, 204. Vision, 205. Immaterial Substance, 207. Demands 
of the Age, 209. The Nebulous Theory, 212. Particles Unfold- 
ed, 214. Particles are Entities, 216. Memory, 219, Animal 
Experience, 220. Size, 222. Associations, 224. Mental Organs, 
226. Instability, 228. Civil and Religious Unfoldment, 229. 
Religions Change, 231. Death and Inertia, 235. World Build- 
ing, 237. 

CHAPTER VI. 

JUSTICE. 

Eternal, 241. Universal Equality, 242. Races, 244. Rights vs. 
Mercy, 246. Sutenance From Below, 248. Answer to Prayer, 
250. Impregnation of the Virgin, 252. Love to Enemies, 253. 
Justice Operative to-day, 255. Self Judgeship, 257. Pay Your 
Debts, 260. Libra, 261. Inherent Rights, 263. Victoria, 264. 
Christian Civilization, 267. Hanging, 268. Christianity vs. 
Justice, 270. 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 

Death Not a Monster, 272. Eating Apples, 273. Death an 
Attribute of Substance, 274. Life, the Breath of God, 275. 
Death Before Life, 276. Pork and Cabbage, 278. Life Proceeds 
From Death, 280. Spiritual Death, 283. No Evidence, 286. 
The Fall, 287. Death a Science, 290. Six Thousand Years, 294. 
Attributes, 298. Deceptions, 299. Dissolution, 300. Expansion 
and Velocity, 301. Nothing Lost, 304. Immortality, 305. Pain 
and Misery, 309. Mourning, 311. Photographs, 313. 



INDEX. 483 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 

Use of Language, 314. Revelation, 315. Babel, 316. Scatter- 
ing, 317. Confusion, 319. Genesis I., 320. Repentence, 321. 
Covenants, 322. Decalogue, 323. A Calf, 224. Butchering, 
326. Stealing, 327. More Killing, 328. Interpretations, 329. 
Baptism, 330. Who is the Lord ? 331. Mount Sinai, 332. Adul- 
tery, 334. Sabbath, 335. Judaism Will Not Do, 336. New 
Dispensation, 337. Eye for Eye, 338. Love Your Enemy, 340. 
Whom to Marry, 341. Mosaic Law, 342. Better Covenant, 344. 
Prophecy, 346. More Love for Enemies, 348. Will Jesus Love 
His? 350. Fighting, 352. Love and Hatred, 354. Infallible 
Book, 356. Combativeness, 358. Holy Ghost, 361. Conception, 
363. Miracles, 365. Impregnation, 367. Dreams, 369. Honey 
Bees, 373. Morals, 375. Blood, 379. Intelligence, 382. A 
Grandee-Show, 384. Soul Food, 385. 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE SPIRIT ABODES. 

Near Home, 390. Size and Distance, 391. The Winds, 393 
Christian's Heaven, 395. Matter and Spirit, 399. The Five 
Senses, 400. Granite, 402. A Nice Box, 404. Lenses, 406. 
Resurrection, 409. Universal Truth, 411. Spiritual Organisms, 
414. More Organs, 416. Born Again, 418. The Key, 420. 
Governments, 423. Getting Office, 425. 

CHAPTER X. 
SPIKIT biography 
An African Slave — Christianity, 428. A Slave, 430. Whip- 
ping, 431. Death and Glory, 432. A Slave Master, 433. Justice, 
434. Personal History, 435. Damnation, 436. Indebtedness, 
438. Praying, 439. Atonement, 440. Equality, 442. Anathemas, 
444. Organs, 447. Elias Hicks, 449. Jug Handle, 450. Nice 
Time, 451. Not So Pleasant, 453. Schools, 457. Pure Angels, 
459. Thomas Paine, 462. Goes to Heaven, 465. His Reception, 
466. Chosen Judge, 469. Judgment, 471. Law, 473. Disobe- 
dience. 476. Closing up, 480. 



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